Scott Wiener becomes the latest progressive Jewish Democrat to face antisemitic harassment
The California lawmaker was forced to leave a transgender community march amid harassment from anti-Israel activists shouting antisemitic slurs at him
Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
California state Sen. Scott Wiener's election party at his congressional campaign headquarters on election night in San Francisco, Calif. on June 2, 2026.
California state Sen. Scott Wiener, the front-runner to succeed retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in Congress, has become the target of antisemitic harassment twice in the last week in his San Francisco district, marking the latest example of a high-profile progressive Jewish politician being singled out and facing threats for his background.
The latest episode occurred Friday when Wiener, who was on his way to participate in a Pride Shabbat service at a transgender community march in San Francisco, was chased out of the event by anti-Israel activists following the state lawmaker and shouting antisemitic slurs at him.
In a video posted by one local anti-Israel activist, the activist follows Wiener around, attacking him for “being terrible on Gaza,” adding, “You do not belong here anymore, Scott. And it breaks my f—ing heart.” Soon after the initial engagement, other even-more hostile activists start cursing at Wiener, with one calling him a “genocidal piece of sh—” and another saying, “F— you and your Zionist handlers.”
Wiener is a longtime supporter of the transgender community, noting in a statement on Saturday about the incidents that he’s attended the march he was harassed out of every year since it began in 2004.
Two days earlier, Wiener, while watching a World Cup game with staffers at a local bar, was berated over his support for Israel by another anti-Israel activist who demanded he say the words “Free Palestine” on camera. The same individual, Wiener said, had stalked him on a plane several years earlier, shouting obscenities about his “tainted bloodline.”
”I have no objection whatsoever to anyone disagreeing with me, opposing me, or protesting me. All of that is core to democracy,” Weiner said, as videos of the confrontations went viral on Saturday.
“But when opposition and disagreement transition to harassment, including cornering me, touching me, or trying to physically bully me out of a public event, that crosses a line. We’re living in a time when violence is all too often threatened or used against people in public life. In San Francisco, we’re better than that.”
Wiener, a progressive stalwart in the California state legislature who has worked closely with the Jewish community the Bay Area, called Israel’s war against Hamas a “genocide” earlier this year after facing intense pressure from left-wing activists to do so. At the time, Wiener was facing primary opposition from a candidate who was attacking him over his support for Israel.
He stepped down as co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, after his decision to placate progressives drew opposition from the state’s sizable Jewish community.
Activists have continued to harass the lawmaker even as he finished in first place in the state’s June Democratic primary. (He is facing San Francisco supervisor Connie Chan, who has Pelosi’s endorsement.)
The antisemitic threats against Wiener come after Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who lost a primary last week amid relentless attacks over his support for Israel, faced online harassment from a Brooklyn coffee shop owner after he bought a drink in the store.
“We see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn’t taste like genocide juice?” Poetica Coffee wrote in an Instagram post with an image of Goldman standing at the register. “We don’t need your money (it’s probably coming from AIPAC anyways). Don’t ever come to Poetica.”
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is investigating Poetica Coffee for possible discrimination.
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