Joe Hathaway, the Republican nominee in the special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, repeatedly accused Democratic nominee Analilia Mejia, a progressive organizer, of espousing antisemitism and taking stances that would make the district’s sizable Jewish community unsafe, during their sole debate earlier this week.

Hathaway, in his opening statement, said that Mejia would “demonize thousands of members of our Jewish community.” The Randolph, N.J. city councilman has leaned into outreach to Jewish voters during the campaign. 

Mejia, who won the special election primary in part because of significant United Democracy Project spending against the frontrunner, former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), is favored to win in a district that backed Kamala Harris by eight points.

Though she had described the war in Gaza as a genocide less than a month after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, Mejia stopped short of using that word during the debate. Instead, she said that “many individuals are feeling conflicted about what we are seeing in Gaza,” while accusing Israel and its prime minister of having committed war crimes. 

“I believe that criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu and his administration is not anti-Israel any more than criticism of Donald Trump is anti-American,” Mejia said. “Neither man deserves a blank check or a blind eye.”

Hathaway responded by highlighting past instances in which Mejia has accused Israel of genocide, in spite of her dodge on the issue during the debate, and said that her positions are “radically out of touch with a district that has a thriving Jewish community that is made less safe, more dangerous by this extreme rhetoric. It has to stop.”

He accused Mejia of blaming Israel for the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks — something she denied. On Oct. 10, 2023, Mejia said that “Every fiber of my being is horrified beyond words at what is furthering in Gaza. Yet again we see how oppression & dehumanization leads to despair & unthinkable destruction,” without making direct mention of Hamas’ attack.

He also highlighted that she said during a primary candidate forum that she felt “incredible discomfort” with the idea of Israel being a Jewish state.

“I’ll stop calling you an antisemite when you stop saying things that are antisemitic and when you stop taking money from people … who shout that Jews in Israel are the same things as Nazis in Germany,” Hathaway said. “You take money from these people, you support their policies. It is completely out of touch with this district that has a thriving Jewish population. This isn’t a district where you can make those kinds of comments and people are going to be okay with it.”

He claimed that his campaign is seeing mass defections from Democratic voters “because the Jewish people of this district know there’s only one candidate they can vote for if they care about their safety and their children’s safety.”

Mejia responded by accusing Hathaway of “fearmonger[ing]” and misrepresenting her record and past statements.

“I would say it’s laughable except it’s one of the most serious topics,” Mejia said. “As a member of Congress, I would use every legislative power at my disposal to protect the rights of Jewish constituents and convene spaces to educate and to fight antisemitism because I know it’s real. … But that doesn’t mean that we cannot call the question on violations to international law and human rights.”

“We should be able to criticize the actions of a government without being called a person of hate,” she said. “We should be able to support freedom and protect our nations without turning to the very thing that we say we fight against. We have to uphold human rights, and if that’s the worst thing that I could be accused of, then I will stand with it, because I believe we have to fight for the freedom and justice of every human being.”

Hathaway fired back that “antisemitism is a bad thing to be accused of.”

Mejia responded, “and that is why I am disgusted by the fact that you are unable to see that criticism of a prime minister does not equal hate. It is disgusting and it is beneath you.”

The two candidates also debated the issue of congressional war powers, in the context of the ongoing war in Iran.

Mejia said she would not support “illegal and endless wars” or wars “without a plan to keep Americans safe.” She focused her comments primarily on the Trump administration’s posture toward America’s European allies, highlighting that the administration had lifted sanctions on Russian oil.

“I believe that we have to fight [Iran’s] nuclear threat, but more bombs do not equate [with] peace. We have to ensure that we’ve exhausted diplomacy and sanctions to keep Americans safe,” she said.

Hathaway said that Iran cannot have nuclear capabilities and that he would like to see diplomacy work, but that he supported the military action the U.S. took when diplomacy failed, praising the effectiveness of the U.S. operations.

He said he’s hopeful that the war will end soon and said he would not support deploying U.S. ground troops. He alleged that Mejia’s stance on Israel “renders her completely unable to make the right decisions for America and for our allies in Israel when it comes to a nuclear-capable Iran.”

Throughout the debate, Hathaway characterized Mejia  as a radical leftist out of step with the district, and himself as a moderate who will work across the aisle. Mejia denied that she identifies as a socialist, emphasizing her longtime role as a Democratic county committee member.