As more Democratic lawmakers join the chorus calling out influencer Hasan Piker over his comments that Jews’ support for Israel invites antisemitic violence, a growing number of moderate Democratic lawmakers  said that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s efforts to distance himself from Piker, a campaign surrogate, haven’t gone far enough.

“Hasan Piker’s recent ‘victim-blaming’ comments inciting violence against American Jews reflect one of the oldest strategies long deployed by bigots and tyrants alike. His most recent diatribe is consistent with his history of antisemitic statements,” Rep. Brad Schnieder (D-IL), a co-chair of the Congressional Jewish Caucus and chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, said in a statement.

Schneider said that El-Sayed had “so-far refused to condemn the words of Hasan Piker, his friend and frequent campaign surrogate.”

“It is disingenuous for El-Sayed to try to distance himself from Piker without specifically condemning, refuting, or even just rejecting Piker’s hateful rhetoric,” Schneider continued. “Claiming that no one speaks for him except himself and his team is not enough. The Jewish community in Michigan deserves outright condemnation of rhetoric that threatens their safety and very identity.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) expressed similar sentiments.

“El-Sayed’s response was pathetic and it did not answer the call,” Gottheimer  said on Fox News. “He did not condemn Piker. He didn’t even mention Piker. He didn’t condemn what Piker said. He didn’t say I will never campaign with this guy again. … Frankly, he should not only condemn him, but no Democratic members should allow Piker anywhere near them on the campaign trail, they should have nothing to do with this guy. And anybody who does and has not condemned him bears responsibility for some of these comments like that.”

Gottheimer also urged House Republican leadership to call up his resolution with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) condemning both Piker and far-right antisemitic influencer Candace Owens for a vote when the House returns to session next week — a move to force progressive lawmakers who have allied and associated with Piker to take a clear stance on the record about Piker’s history of antisemitism.

El-Sayed did not respond to a request for comment.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) also reiterated his previous condemnations of Piker’s comments in an appearance on CNN, confirming that he had been referring to Piker in a statement the day prior, which did not name the influencer specifically.

“Those comments were dangerous, malicious and antisemitic and should not be tolerated by anyone in the public square,” Jeffries said. “Everybody, regardless of ideological perspective, should be willing to denounce this rise of antisemitic rhetoric, hate crimes and bigotry, and actually try to move us to a society where we embrace everyone — even where there are differences on issues, be they foreign or domestic. The notion that people should be targeted because of their religious beliefs or ethnicity or race, whatever the case may be, that’s fundamentally inconsistent with who we are in this country.”

Piker dismissed the criticism from various Democrats as the result of an “aipac boss call.”

“they are unanimous in their hatred of me, and i welcome their hatred. if you’re a defender of israel’s genocide, of its occupation, of its child killing spree – then your boos mean nothing to me,” Piker wrote on X.

Other Democrats joined Jeffries in condemning Piker.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a co-chair of the bipartisan Senate antisemitism task force, called the comments a “new low,” even for someone who “has been trafficking in antisemitic tropes for a while.”

“Blaming Jewish Americans for the violence and hate they’re facing is not just wrong, it provides an excuse to those perpetuating these anti-Jewish hate crimes,” Rosen said. “Let me be absolutely clear: crimes against Jews for being Jews is antisemitism plain and simple. There’s no excuse for it.”

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said, “This shouldn’t be hard: no community should face the threat of violence for their political views.”

“In a time where political violence and anti-semitism has been spiking— and where just 6 months ago Michigan had a nearly deadly event of anti-semitic mass violence at Temple Israel — no one should causally be suggesting that anyone, Jews or otherwise, are to blame for being targeted,” Slotkin said.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) emphasized the pattern of “the extremes of American politics” of blaming Jews for antisemitism.

“Let me put it plainly: there is absolutely no justification for antisemitism. There never has been, and there never will be,” Torres said. “No amount of victim-blaming or gaslighting by Hasan Piker can shift moral responsibility away from where it belongs: the antisemites who commit acts of violence and terror against Jews.”

Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ), who chairs the campaign arm of the New Democrat Coalition, said,  “Framing violence against Jewish Americans as something they brought on themselves shifts the blame from the perpetrators onto the very people they want to harm.”

Meanwhile, at least one progressive House Democrat is taking a different approach, calling out the growing number of Democrats who are condemning Piker.

“When the head of a major left-leaning DC think tank regularly gets in fights with the Dem base and progressive influencers on social media, almost in an irrational and uncontrollable way, does that ultimately hurt the think tank?” left-wing Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) said, an apparent reference to Center for American Progress CEO Neera Tanden, a vocal Piker critic on social media.