At a televised debate in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District on Wednesday evening, far-left activist and social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh said she would not support continued aid for Israel’s Iron Dome, dodged a question on Israel’s right to exist and said that President Donald Trump is only considering strikes on Iran because he wants to “bomb more brown people.”

Questions on Israel policy and accusations about alleged pro-Israel spending in the race dominated much of the hourlong session, having taken on a outsized role in the primary. 

Asked whether she supports Israel’s right to exist, Abughazaleh, who is Palestinian American, responded, “I think that this question is said as if it doesn’t exist. What we need is to ensure that any solution, whether it is a two-state, a single secular state, whatever it is, is negotiated not by America, but by the people that actually live there.”

She went on to highlight her own family’s history, explaining that her great-grandfather was Palestinian and was displaced from the land, where he owned a hotel.

“It’s really important that any solution has full civil and legal rights for everyone living there, regardless of their ethnicity, their religion, and that it is decided by the people who actually live there because we spend so much of our time as a country interfering in other countries and saying that we dictate how they live, and it’s just made places worse,” she continued.

Abughazaleh also said she would not support unconditional aid for defensive systems, specifically naming the Iron Dome missile-defense system.

“Defensive weaponry is an oxymoron. Weapons are inherently offensive,” she said. The Iron Dome system is designed to intercept incoming drones and projectiles and has no offensive applications. 

Pressed again specifically about whether she supports Iron Dome, she said, “No, I don’t support — we need to condition all aid to any country, any ally, it doesn’t matter if it’s Israel. If we aren’t using our leverage, there is no reason to condition any aid.”

State Sen. Laura Fine, the pro-Israel moderate among the three front-runners in the race, responded that the “amount of death and destruction would be incredible, not just to the Israelis in Israel, but also to the Palestinians” if the Iron Dome were not funded, noting that she has taken shelter in safe rooms in Israel during past visits.

Abughazaleh retorted that she had not been to Israel “because my dad was scared I would get detained if I went.”

On Iran, Abughazaleh declared that “this administration doesn’t give a damn” about the Iranian protesters and that potential military strikes in Iran are “an effort for [Trump] to cement his power over more of the world and bomb more brown people.” She said strikes would be an impeachable offense.

She blamed U.S. intervention for the establishment of the Islamic Republic regime in 1979, but said she does support Iranian dissidents.

The far-left activist and influencer said she would want to serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee if elected.

Both Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, also running as a critic of Israel, albeit less strident than Abughazaleh, and Fine expressed opposition to military strikes against Iran, though both made clear that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. Biss explicitly endorsed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal; Fine did not.

“We have an unstable leader who’s talking about bringing us into a war,” Fine said, adding Congress should look to cut the “bloated defense budget.”

Abughazaleh also defended a 2024 social media post in which she said that, “like 99% of attacks in history, both by military and terrorists, Oct. 7 was not in a vacuum. It had motivation, which is why they took hostages” — interpreted by many as defending or justifying Hamas’ attack and taking of hostages.

“I think it’s important to mention that, yes, it didn’t happen in a vacuum, because of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s far right government, and because of a pattern of discrimination, a pattern of second-class citizenship, a pattern of exile and a pattern of displacement that my own family underwent,” Abughazaleh said. “Every civilian deserves to be safe. No child deserves to go to bed hungry. Every war criminal should be held accountable, and … we should recognize [Palestinian] statehood so they can negotiate a solution on equal footing.”

Fine indicated she would not support war crimes prosecution against Netanyahu, while Biss said that there “should be thorough investigations and I think the answer [to whether he committed war crimes] is likely going to be yes.”

Biss, who recently said at another forum he would not support any continued funding for arms to Israel, including Iron Dome, softened that stance at the Wednesday night debate and said he does support Iron Dome funding.

He otherwise doubled down on his support for conditioning U.S. aid to Israel and the Block the Bombs Act, saying that conditions are the only way to achieve peace and a two-state solution.

Biss also glossed over his own pivot on aid to Israel since entering the race. In a position paper he shared with AIPAC early in the race — which Biss himself released publicly — Biss’ campaign said he supports “continued aid to Israel in accordance with the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding” and an expanded MOU in the future.

But since entering the race, Biss has come out in support of conditioning aid and the Block the Bombs Act, which contradict the MOU. “I stayed true to my values and took the position that I believe is right, which is that we cannot allow unconditional aid to the Israeli government no matter what they do in Gaza,” Biss claimed, even though the position paper makes no mention of conditioning aid.

Abughazaleh declared that even meeting with representatives from AIPAC is unacceptable.

“The idea that you can separate yourself, even after meeting with them … an organization that supports this administration, and that is supporting a genocide is not a group you should meet with,” she said.