Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) dismissed criticism of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s scandals on Wednesday, after calling him “my kind of man” at his rally in Maine on Saturday.

“You care about character,” CNBC host Sara Eisen said to Warren. “This is a guy that had a chest tattoo with a Nazi symbol — OK, he apologized for it. It’s a guy that reportedly wrote that people concerned about rape should take some responsibility for themselves and not get so effed up that they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to. He praised military tactics used by Hamas, reportedly, in comments online when they were murdering Israeli soldiers. So I’m just curious why you think he’s ‘your kind of man’?”

Warren responded, “So, as you rightly point out, he has apologized. He’s out meeting with the people of Maine every single day so they can evaluate not who Graham Platner was but who Graham Platner is today.” She went on to say her comment was in reference to her experience reading an interview of Platner’s where he condemned the lack of consequences for bankers during the 2008 financial crisis.

Eisen said, “OK, well, ‘I dig it,’ next to a video of a bunch of terrorists killing five soldiers?” referring to a Jewish Insider report unearthing Platner’s 2014 Reddit comments. “I don’t know, I mean, you guys want to be the party of inclusivity, right?” 

“I want to be the party that stands up for hardworking people,” Warren answered. “I want to be the party that is transformative of an economy that right now is hip deep in corruption … and that’s what Graham Platner wants to do and I’m there to stand with him and to help in that fight.”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said on Friday that the Democratic Party “absolutely” has an issue with rising antisemitism, calling out the party’s embrace of candidates including Graham Platner in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan while criticizing the recent progressive push to cut off defensive aid to Israel. 

The Pennsylvania senator made the comments after being asked on CNN’s “The Arena with Kasie Hunt” if he believed the Democratic Party has a problem with antisemitism. Fetterman argued that the growing support for both candidates in their respective primaries was indicative of a tolerance for antisemitism within the party. 

He pointed to Platner surviving the controversy surrounding his Nazi tattoo and Jewish Insider’s reporting in recent days that the first-time candidate repeatedly praised Hamas’ tactics in a 2014 Reddit forum that shared video of the terrorist group killing several Israeli soldiers. 

“I mean, the guy that’s going to win the primary in Maine has a Nazi tattoo on his chest and now that’s no problem for a lot of voters,” Fetterman said. “I don’t know why. That’s crazy. And now, I mean, we know he knows, he knew what that was. I mean, if you’re back over 12, 13 years, cheering about the death of Israeli soldiers, I mean, you clearly have a serious issue, and the left has a serious issue with antisemitism.”

“It was just released that he was praising and celebrating a video online where Hamas was beating and torturing Israeli soldiers to death,” Fetterman said, referring to Platner. 

Fetterman also made note of El-Sayed’s lead in one recent primary poll despite his decision to campaign alongside antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.

“The guy in Michigan, he’s leading now in that race, as my party becomes more and more hostile to Israel,” Fetterman said. “They’re just palling around someone like Hasan Piker, you know the guy that, absolutely, I mean, he absolutely is proud to cheer for Hamas, loves Hamas.”

“The Democrats are proud to stand with him and campaign with him,” he added. “Go ahead, try to win Pennsylvania and campaign around Hasan Piker, or saying, ‘Yeah, America deserved 9/11’ or ‘Hamas is 1,000% better than Israel’ or ‘I don’t care about the rapes and for all this other things.’ We have a serious problem with my party.”

Fetterman, one of most vocal pro-Israel Democrats in the Senate, told Hunt that Israel is “becoming more and more toxic for a Democrat to support,” pointing out that “80% of Democrats view Israel in a negative way.” He specifically condemned the uptick in progressive and far-left voices coming out against continued defensive aid to Israel.

“You have people like [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] voting against Iron Dome, the technology that prevents tens and tens of [thousands] of Israeli deaths from the rockets that those cowards fire at civilians,” he said.

Fetterman went on to criticize members of his party for opposing the war in Iran, saying that there were other Democrats who felt the same as him in supporting the effort but were not speaking out because doing so would be “politically toxic.” 

“Every single Democrat has already been on record saying, ‘We can‘t ever allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb,’” Fetterman said, specifically naming former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and “everyone that’s run for president” who said “we can’t ever allow that to happen.”

“Then, [President Donald] Trump happened to do something about that to prevent that. That’s why I support that,” he continued. “I’m not the only Democrat who supports this, but I’m the only Democrat that’s willing to stand up and say it’s the right thing because I know how politically toxic it is as a Democrat to support this.”

Fetterman surmised that he is the “only Democrat … perhaps left in the entire Congress” who will say publicly that recent U.S. military action in Iran “was necessary” because doing so “contradicts every single thing that every Democrat has said” about how “we can’t ever allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb.”

Fetterman went on to criticize the Democratic lawmakers who voted for the recent war powers resolutions in the House and Senate, arguing that their opposition to the war has been “celebrated” by Iranian leadership and calling their response to the conflict “absurd.”

“Iran has celebrated this,” Fetterman said of the broad Democratic opposition. “A lot of people in my party and a lot of people in the media has turned Iran into the underdog. They’re like Rudy” — making a reference to the 1993 sports movie — “and putting them up on their shoulders and cheering for Iran at this point.”

Asked to respond to Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-MI) statement that “being pro-Israel today is not about simply supporting the political or military agenda of Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, just like being pro-American should not be equated with loyalty to President Trump,” Fetterman argued that her comments on her votes for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) measures on Thursday blocking military sales to Israel were similarly “absurd.”

“She’s a Democratic senator. Why aren’t you criticizing Iran? Why aren’t you criticizing Hamas or Hezbollah or these other kinds of forces? If you have to pick a side here, criticize that. So that’s where we are as a Democratic Party, and you’re going to vote against the kinds of critical aid that Israel requires and needs in order to beat back and destroy an organization like Hezbollah. Like I said, if you have to pick a side in a war, and clearly we have a side, I’m proud to stand on the side of Israel and America.”

Pressed on if he was still committed to being a Democrat given that his comments marked his harshest criticism yet of his party, Fetterman responded affirmatively.

“Well, of course. Yeah, I am absolutely committed to [remaining a] Democrat, absolutely,” Fetterman said. “I vote 91, 92 percent the Democratic line, but I am the only Democrat now that’s proud to consistently stand with Israel, and I’m going to do that, and that’s been very damaging with my standing as a Democrat.”

“If it’s what’s necessary, I’ll be the last Democrat standing with Israel through this,” he later added.

Fetterman also predicted that the war in Iran would not go on much longer, noting that “things kind of continue to wind down,” and said it’s “important to support” the U.S. securing an outcome in which Iranian leadership “surrenders.”  

“I think these are very positive developments,” he said of Israel and the U.S. targeting Iran and their leading proxies. 

“I think it seems like it’s going to wind down,” Fetterman said. “And we’re heading to a strong end at this point.”

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner repeatedly praised the tactics used by Hamas terrorists in comments made about a graphic video of a Hamas raid into Israel in 2014, in which terrorists killed at least five Israeli soldiers.

In archived posts from his now-deleted Reddit profile under the username “P-Hustle,” Platner commented on a video post titled “Helmet Footage from Hamas cross-border raid,” which showed the attack on multiple Israeli soldiers.

The original video, also now deleted but still archived, was posted by a YouTube channel called Sabah on July 29, 2014, with the description, “Secret footage shows the storming of a settlement by the Qassam Brigades and the killing of 10 soldiers.” The description and comments in the Reddit thread appear to match a raid by Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades on a military base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz the day prior.

According to a text description of the video and the raid shared online, the video includes footage of the shootings of several Israeli soldiers, at least one of whom is screaming as the terrorists attempt to kidnap him.

“Looks like an all around well executed and successful small unit raid to me,” Platner wrote in 2014 on the Reddit forum r/CombatFootage, a discussion board for footage and photographs of past and current armed conflicts.

Responding to another user who criticized the “execution” of the Israeli soldiers and emphasized that the attack would lead to heavy reprisals in Gaza, Platner said he was not interested in discussing the geopolitical or strategic implications, but suggested Hamas’ tactics and actions were reasonable.

“As for your aversion to ‘execution’, a small unit raid tends to be used to inflict casualties and take prisoners in a short period of time,” Platner wrote. “Pragmatically I have little problem with killing an enemy combatant who you attempt to capture but for whatever reason cannot. From a strictly professional standpoint, this was a damn fine looking and successful raid against a superior opponent, I dig it.”

He acknowledged, in response to another user, that the terrorists’ actions were brutal and that the terrorists should have shot one of the soldiers instead of beating him to death.

Responding to another user who disputed Platner’s characterization of the Hamas attack as a “raid” and said that the attack was “not resistance its just drawing blood to score imaginative points in the war,” Platner suggested the Hamas terrorists were preferable to those who attacked U.S. forces in Iraq.

“It was Iraq, and those guys were in civilian clothing with silenced weapons. This videos shows a unit of men in full uniform assaulting uniformed military personnel of an enemy their organization is currently engaged in military operations with. There is no comparing the two,” Platner wrote. “Generally you try to catch the enemy off guard, and kill them with the least resistance. This looks like a pretty audacious plan that worked, and I’ll certainly give credit where credit is due, no matter who they are fighting for.”

Platner’s campaign did not return a request for comment.

Platner has come under fire by Gov. Janet Mills, who is his main competitor in the Democratic primary, and by Republicans for other past Reddit posts under the “P-Hustle” username which have disparaged a wide range of groups and included various offensive comments.

He also has faced scrutiny for his criticism of Israel and a tattoo on his chest of an apparent Nazi symbol.

Graham Platner, the progressive Maine Senate candidate, in a CNN interview that aired Sunday accused Israel of committing genocide and said the U.S. should cut off all aid, as well as dismissed concerns that bringing the Iran war to a halt would endanger U.S. forces in the region.

“I fundamentally believe that a nation that is committing a genocide should not be a place that we are putting money. We should be leveraging the fact that we have a lot of power in this relationship due to our funding,” Platner said in the interview. “We should be leveraging that to, frankly, get the Israeli government to stop behaving in such an utterly atrocious fashion.”

Platner said that he would vote against any further funding for the war in Iran, dismissing concerns that cutting funding for the war would leave U.S. forces in harm’s way, despite ongoing attacks by Iran.

“I’ve been very close to the realities of wars [in Iraq], and that was a war that never should have happened, and that we find ourselves here with another war that should not be happening, that is resulting in destruction and horror, all, frankly, on the taxpayers dime,” Platner said. “That is money that should be spent here in the United States, on schools, on hospitals, on infrastructure.”

He said that U.S. troops would not be in danger if Congress defunds the operation “because the troops should not be in harm’s way. End the war. Bring people home. Stop bombing. We started this thing, we can end it.”

Platner said he believes the Trump administration started the war to distract from revelations in the Epstein files because “Benjamin Netanyahu finally found a president that was sucker enough to launch the war that he’s been pushing for for 30 years.”

With a series of pugnacious tweets and media appearances, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has made himself a face of the Democratic opposition to the war in Iran, issuing one of the first comments from a U.S. lawmaker opposing the effort in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Gallego’s outspoken commentary, which has repeatedly pinned blame for the operation on Israel — a notion that colleagues on both sides of the aisle have disputed — also coincide with Gallego’s endorsement of Graham Platner, the progressive Maine Senate candidate who has faced a series of scandals related to antisemitism.

The high-profile moves come as Gallego, who claimed victory in Arizona in 2024 even as President Donald Trump won the state, is seen by political observers as positioning himself for a 2028 presidential campaign — and as anti-Israel policies have become a litmus test for the progressive left.

“So Netanyahu now decides when we go to war? So much for America First,” Gallego said earlier this week, in response to comments by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that seemed to suggest that the timing of the war was dictated by Israel.

“What the f*** happened to America First?” Gallego wrote in another post, adding that the U.S. should have left Israel to go ahead with the operation alone.

Though some lawmakers emerged from a Monday briefing echoing that line, Rubio has since said his comments were misrepresented, and others on both sides of the aisle have denied that Israel forced the U.S. into the conflict.

“They’re following Netanyahu, who has literally told us … that he’s been trying to do this for 47 years. I know — I suffered the first attempt at this in 2005, and now America is suffering again because of it,” Gallego said on MS NOW this week, referencing his service in Iraq. “There’s a lot of ways that we can be supportive of Israel. There’s a lot of ways that we could defend Israel’s existence, its sovereignty. I’m 100% for that. We don’t need to go to war for them, especially when it’s a dumb war.”

He said that the U.S. should have threatened to withhold intelligence, support and munitions from Israel if it went ahead with an attack on Iran. 

And he said on “Pod Save America” that the U.S. should have tried “calling Iran, saying ‘This is not us, we’re going to be staying out of this.’ No, we just decided that we’re going to let Netanyahu choose our wars. This is very disturbing to me.”

The Arizona senator also said he would not support funding to replenish U.S. munitions expended in the war, saying that Middle Eastern partners should be responsible.

“When the bill comes to pay for the replenishment of interceptors and munitions, the Middle Eastern countries that we have been protecting need to pay for it,” Gallego said on X. “We aren’t cutting more Medicaid, food stamps for protecting these countries in a war of choice and not in our interest.”

In a podcast appearance on The Bulwark this week, he also urged fellow Democrats to reject the war forcefully and wholeheartedly, without caveats or appeals to constitutional authority as other lawmakers have used to justify their opposition.

“Why are we spending all this money? All these countries in the Middle East have a lot of money. Why are we spending all this money?” Gallego continued, explaining questions he’s hearing from constituents. “These are the things that are very simple for people to understand. I think we should not be afraid to communicate that.”

Endorsing Platner, Gallego called him “the kind of fighter Maine hasn’t seen in a long time, someone who tells you exactly what he thinks, doesn’t owe anything to the special interests, and wakes up every day thinking about working families,” also referencing their shared history as veterans. 

Platner most recently faced scrutiny for appearing on a podcast in January with an antisemitic conspiracy theorist of whom Platner said he was a “longtime fan.” Just before that podcast appearance came to light, Platner came under fire for retweeting a prominent neo-Nazi influencer. Platner also, for decades, had a tattoo that closely mirrored a Nazi emblem on his chest.

While Platner has claimed not to have been aware of the significance of the symbol, both Jewish Insider and CNN reported that Platner described the tattoo as a Totenkopf, a symbol used by an SS unit.

Gallego and Platner are both represented by the same consulting firm, Fight Agency, which has signed on a number of far-left candidates who have made opposition to Israel a central focus of their campaigns. Another one of the Fight Agency’s clients is New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who the senator defended during his polarizing mayoral campaign. 

Gallego, who has a Jewish child with his ex-wife, has spoken in the past about his concerns about antisemitism and its impacts on his own family. But pressed this week on Platner’s antisemitic ties, a Gallego spokesperson referred JI to an interview Gallego conducted on “Pod Save America” about the endorsement.

Asked about Platner’s appearance on and praise for the antisemitic podcaster, Gallego downplayed the situation, noting that many Democrats have appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast, which has also spread antisemitic conspiracy theories.

“A working class man goes and has a conversation on a platform that is very similar to what Joe Rogan talks about … but everyone freaks out on this guy,” Gallego said. “Why? Because the establishment doesn’t want him. This is very simple … so they’re going to make sure that he looks bad.”

Gallego also said that Platner was “young and stupid” when he got the tattoo but argued that it was not clearly identifiable as a Nazi symbol, and that subsequent security checks and physicals did not identify the tattoo as a problem.

And he argued that Democrats are too focused on finding “perfect” candidates who are ultimately unable to appeal to voters.

The Arizona senator separately said on a Bulwark podcast this week, “I also endorsed Haley Stevens and Angie Craig, right? And, I was accused by the left of being in the pocket of Israel.” He said that he’s supporting people he believes can win general elections.

Arizona state Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Jewish Democrat and outspoken supporter of Israel, said she was surprised and disappointed by Gallego’s endorsement of Platner.

“It is a really hard one to justify. I, quite frankly, do not care if they are both veterans. There are plenty of veterans who are not complete bigots and jerks who you could endorse,” Hernandez told JI. “There is a woman who’s running, who is the governor, who has not had any history of being a bigot like this individual. I mean, for God’s sake, he has a Nazi tattoo.”

She added, “you can’t excuse and pretend that there is no pattern of bigotry and, quite frankly, just a real disregard for Democratic values” from Platner, pointing to offensive comments about people of color and women that the Maine candidate has made.

“I’m disappointed as an Arizonan, as a woman and as a Jewish woman,” Hernandez continued. “I think it says a lot about a person who’s willing to put their name behind someone like him.”

Hernandez said that, in response to Gallego’s support for Platner and his shifting stance and recent comments on Israel, she’s heard from other Jewish Democrats in Arizona who say they won’t support Gallego going forward.

In the House, Gallego was generally a supporter of Israel — and voted against the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — within what was at the time the mainstream of the Democratic Party, but was not particularly active on the issue.

The then-congressman appeared to take a more hawkish position during and immediately after his Senate race in 2024, leading an effort to expand U.S.-Israel counter-tunneling cooperation, supporting efforts to sanction the International Criminal Court, backing the redesignation of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, strongly condemning Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for including the phrase “from the river to the sea” in a video she posted and quickly urging the administration to freeze Iranian assets shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, when other Democrats were slower to endorse that position.

He also said, through a spokesperson, that he would have opposed efforts earlier this year to block certain U.S. aid shipments to Israel that were supported by a majority of Senate Democrats. Gallego himself was absent for the vote, citing family duties as a new father.

But Gallego’s recent statements, particularly since the start of the Iran war, indicate a sharp tack in the opposite direction as he eyes a potential national campaign. Other potential 2028 Democratic candidates, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, appear to be making a similar calculation.

Weeks before Graham Platner promoted an antisemitic conspiracy theorist in a now-deleted social media post on Thursday, the controversial Maine Senate candidate appeared on a popular YouTube show whose host has spread specious claims about Jews and Israel.

Platner faced blowback this week for boosting a social media comment about a looming war with Iran by Stew Peters, a neo-Nazi influencer who has frequently espoused antisemitic tropes and engaged in Holocaust denial. Platner’s team said the post was made in error and “immediately” removed it after learning it elevated a “despicable account.”

In late January, however, Platner sat for a lengthy online interview with Nate Cornacchia, a retired Green Beret who has also promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories. Near the end of their hour-long conversation, Platner, a fellow military veteran, called himself “a longtime fan” of Cornacchia’s YouTube channel, “Valhalla VFT,” and said it was “an absolute pleasure being” on the show.

Cornacchia, whose show claims nearly 500,000 YouTube subscribers, has in recent months helped stoke a burgeoning far-right conspiracy theory alleging that Israel was involved in the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. 

Two days before speaking with Platner, for instance, Cornacchia went on a podcast hosted by Jake Shields, a former mixed martial arts fighter who is now a prominent Holocaust denier, and pointed to what he described as “huge links” connecting Israel to Kirk’s killing. “The biggest one, the way I look at it, is because he was basically so important from the Zionist side to the young right wing, sort of that counter Nick Fuentes audience” that “Israel needs desperately,” he said.

“Charlie Kirk said that he was tired of being bullied by his Jewish donors” and that he “no longer could support the pro-Israel cause, and he was dead 48 hours later,” Cornacchia added on the show, where he also agreed with Shields’ assertion that President John F. Kennedy had “probably” been assassinated in a covert “venture between the CIA and Mossad,” the Israeli intelligence agency. “100%,” he replied.

In addition, Cornacchia has suggested that the global war on terror was conducted “on behest of Israel” and claimed Israel would benefit if another 9/11-style attack were carried out during the tenure of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, saying it would help to drum up Islamophobic sentiment and lead to another foreign military entanglement in the Middle East.

The Jewish state “got exactly who they wanted” in Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor whom the Israeli government has accused of antisemitism, he argued on his own show in November. “That’s their candidate, guys. You got to pay attention.”

The conservative YouTube commentator has also questioned why George Soros’ son Alex was seen posing for a photograph with Mamdani on the night of his election. “You may immediately be thinking, ‘Oh, well, of course, that’s because Soros funds all the socialists,’” Cornacchia said of George, a Jewish billionaire donor to left-wing causes and a Holocaust survivor who is often a target of antisemitic attacks. 

“No, no, no, no, that’s surface level,” he told his viewers, claiming that the philanthropist “moves in coordination with our greatest ally,” a term he uses to sarcastically allude to Israel.   

Platner’s interview with Cornacchia, which he promoted on his social media channels, did not touch on such topics. His team did not respond to a request for comment on Friday about Cornacchia’s antisemitic remarks.

The 41-year-old Senate candidate, who is running in a competitive Democratic primary to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), faced skepticism from critics last fall after he denied knowing a tattoo that was on his chest for years closely mirrored a Totenkopf, the skull-and-crossbones icon adopted by an infamous Nazi SS unit. A former acquaintance of Platner who spoke with Jewish Insider said he had identified the symbol as such more than a decade ago, a claim he has denied. He had the tattoo removed last October. 

Still, even as he maintains a commanding polling advantage in the Maine Democratic primary against Gov. Janet Mills, Platner’s explanation of the tattoo — combined with past and recent online blunders — is raising questions about whether he can weather scrutiny in a general election that party leadership views as key to reclaiming the Senate majority.

Mills, for her part, strongly hinted at such doubts in a snarky X post on Friday. “For what it’s worth,” she wrote, “I don’t have any tattoos.”

And on the same day he was drawing backlash for amplifying a conspiracy theorist this week, Platner was fielding a combative call from a listener during an appearance on a podcast hosted by the comedian Tim Heidecker.

The caller cast suspicion on Platner’s claim that he did not know the tattoo represented a Nazi symbol until recently, citing his self-proclaimed knowledge of World War II history, and called on the candidate to apologize rather than “dodging around” the issue.

But Platner held firm. “I’m not going to apologize for something that I didn’t know about or do,” he insisted. “The moment that it was clear and I was putting it in that context I had it covered, because I don’t want that on my body.”

Graham Platner, a far-left Senate candidate in Maine, amplified a social media post on Thursday from a far-right conspiracy theorist well-known for viciously antisemitic commentary — before quickly deleting the statement.

In a comment to X late Thursday morning, Platner approvingly boosted a remark from Stew Peters, an extremist radio host who has frequently promoted antisemitic tropes and engaged in Holocaust denial, calling a war with Iran “the only thing Republicans and Democrats have both given a standing ovation for.”

“As always, there’s one thing that brings Republican and Democratic politicians together: sending other people’s children to die in stupid wars in the Middle East,” Platner, a 41-year-old Marine veteran turned oyster farmer who has sharply criticized U.S. military engagement abroad, wrote in his own post.

He deleted the post an hour or so after it had been flagged by online observers who noted that he was elevating a problematic figure with a long record of hostile rhetoric toward Jews.

The Anti-Defamation League has described Peters as a “prolific antisemite” who blames “‘the Jews’ for everything he believes is wrong with society,” while the Southern Poverty Law Center has said his radio show has “become a central hub for antisemitic and conspiratorial content.”

He has said Judaism is “satanic” and a “death cult,” promoted blood libels, called for a “final solution” to mass-deport American Jews and questioned the existence of gas chambers that exterminated Jews during the Holocaust, among other conspiratorial assertions.

In a statement to Jewish Insider, a spokesperson for Platner said the post had been published due to an oversight. “We were reposting a C-Span clip of Trump speaking about the potential war with Iran and didn’t realize that the video had been posted by a despicable account,” the spokesperson said. “When we learned who the poster was we immediately deleted the post.”

The social media blunder is a particularly sensitive issue for Platner, who earlier in his campaign faced scrutiny over a Nazi tattoo on his chest, which he had covered up last October. He has insisted he was not aware the tattoo closely mirrored a Totenkopf, a skull-and-crossbones icon used by an infamous Nazi SS unit, even as a former acquaintance told JI that he had years ago specifically identified it as such. He has denied such claims.

“I am not a secret Nazi,” Platner said in a podcast interview last year, while calling himself “a lifelong opponent” of “Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general.”

Despite such baggage, polling has shown Platner holds a commanding lead in the Maine Democratic primary race, where he is facing Gov. Janet Mills to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who is one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents up for reelection in the midterms.

Like many progressives now running for Congress, Graham Platner, a Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, has made opposition to Israel a central part of his messaging.

He frequently accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza, advocates for blocking U.S. aid to Israel and is an outspoken critic of AIPAC. During a campaign event last month, Platner, a 41-year-old former Marine who runs an oyster farm, also said he believes that Israel is a terrorist state.

But more so than many candidates, the political newcomer seems particularly invested in engaging on Middle East policy, even if his views have drawn scrutiny, according to audio of a recent private discussion in which he debated about Israel with some attendees at a fundraising event in Maine for nearly 20 minutes.

Speaking at the August fundraiser, Platner defended his stances on Israel and shared previously undisclosed details about his personal ties to the region, according to the audio, recently shared with Jewish Insider.

Despite his hostile criticism of Israel, Platner said he believed that the country “has the same right to exist that every nation has to exist,” though he did not confirm whether he recognizes Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. 

While he said he agreed that Hamas is a terrorist organization, Platner claimed that Netanyahu had “publicly stated that” Israel was “funding Hamas to make sure that there was going to be no non-radical leadership within Gaza in order to keep a Palestinian state from happening.”  

While members of Netanyahu’s coalition have made this argument — Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich referred to the terrorist organization as “an asset” as it serves as an obstacle to Palestinian statehood — the prime minister has never personally made such a claim. New York Times reporting from shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks alleged that the Israeli prime minister had allowed the Qatari government to send money into the Gaza Strip for several years in order to “maintain peace in Gaza.” Netanyahu called allegations that he was empowering Hamas “ridiculous.”

“It is difficult for me to lay the onus of everything only at the feet of the Palestinians,” he explained, “and not include the Netanyahu government.”

Platner also quibbled with an attendee who said that 1,200 Israeli civilians had been killed during the attacks, noting that a percentage of those who had died on Oct. 7 were soldiers in the Israeli military.

“It wasn’t 1,200 civilians. It was 600 military members,” Platner countered, using a number that far exceeded the approximately 300 soldiers who were killed in the attacks. 

“Who were taken sleeping, unarmed, out of their beds, I’ve met families,” the attendee responded, likely referring to the tatzpitaniot, unarmed female observer soldiers, and others, who were famously killed and kidnapped in their pajamas.  

“When you are wearing a uniform and carrying a gun in the service of a cause, it is difficult for me to feel that you can be called a civilian,” said Platner, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. “There is a one-way street on this,” he continued, “that I find to be disingenuous.”

The private comments suggest that Platner is not merely paying lip service to such issues on the trail, as he runs in a competitive primary against Maine Gov. Janet Mills for the Democratic nomination to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). 

Platner’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Platner’s views on Israel and Gaza have received limited attention in recent weeks as his campaign has weathered controversy over his past incendiary Reddit posts and faced questions over when he first became aware that a skull tattoo on his chest he had for nearly 20 years resembled a Nazi symbol known as a Totenkopf.

Platner, who covered the tattoo this month, has insisted he did not know what the skull signified until recently, though reporting from JI and CNN has contradicted that claim.

He has also argued that members of his family are Jewish and never objected to the skull tattoo when he took his shirt off around them. “Eighteen years,” he told The Atlantic recently. “It’s never come up.”

In the conversation about Israel at the fundraiser, which took place before controversy ensnared his campaign, Platner noted his stepbrother is Seth Frantzman, an Israeli author, journalist and security analyst who has long worked for The Jerusalem Post and lives in Jerusalem, saying they are “very close,” according to the audio.

Frantzman, who has previously written admiringly about Platner without mention of their familial ties, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Platner also said that he had “multiple friends in B’Tselem,” the left-wing Israeli human rights group that has described Israel as an apartheid regime and accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza — as he argued that Israel is not fully a democracy.

He cited his friends from B’Tselem “who have showed me videos, who have introduced me to former soldiers, who have introduced me to Palestinians, who have laid out a very clear and, frankly, well-sourced case that Palestinians living within the borders of the occupied territories do not live in a democracy, that they do not have equal rights, that they do not have equal access to areas.”

He said that, “as an American taxpayer,” he was uncomfortable with sending continued U.S. aid to support Israel’s military.

But even as he has been deployed to the Middle East, Platner confirmed that he had never visited Israel.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) became the first elected Democrat to call on scandal-plagued Democrat Graham Platner to drop out of the race for Senate in Maine amid controversy over a tattoo on his chest with Nazi origins and other controversies.

Jewish Insider earlier reported that Platner had on at least one occasion identified the tattoo on his chest as a Nazi SS symbol, known as a “Totenkopf,” to a former acquaintance and had been fully aware of the tattoo and its meaning well before jumping into the race to replace Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), even bragging about having it. 

Auchincloss urged Platner to abandon his Senate bid on Sunday, telling Politico that he finds the progressive candidate’s conduct “personally disqualifying.” 

Platner has dismissed wrongdoing and claimed he had no idea the tattoo symbol was a Nazi insignia when he got it with fellow Marines while in Croatia in 2007. 

“I am not a secret Nazi. Actually if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism,” Platner said on the “Pod Save America” podcast last week.

Auchincloss expressed dissatisfaction with Platner’s defenses, in which the progressive candidate has said his actions aren’t a “liability.”

“I think it’s a liability, and I think we should have high standards for United States senators and one of them is: you don’t have a Nazi tattoo on your body,” Auchincloss told WCVB Channel 5 Boston on Sunday. 

“I hope that Maine voters would agree with me,” Auchincloss said to Politico. “Democrats would be united in condemning a Republican candidate who has this episode, and we should be consistent.”

Platner is running against Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary. The winner will face Collins in what is expected to be a hotly-contested race.

Some progressive members of Congress, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have defended Platner amid his numerous scandals. 

“He sounds like a human being to me,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said of Platner’s tattoo in a CNN interview on Sunday. “A human being who made mistakes, recognizes them, and is very open about it.”

Graham Platner, the scandal-plagued Democrat running for Senate in Maine, continued to insist he only recently became aware that a black skull tattoo on his chest resembles a Nazi SS symbol, even amid mounting evidence suggesting he was aware of what the image represented long before he announced his campaign this summer.

A new investigation published on Friday by CNN confirmed Jewish Insider’s earlier reporting that Platner had on at least one occasion identified the tattoo as a Nazi SS symbol, known as a Totenkopf, to a former acquaintance more than a decade ago.

The former acquaintance spoke with CNN, which also interviewed a second person who said that the acquaintance had mentioned Platner’s tattoo years ago. In addition, CNN reviewed a more recent text exchange from several months ago in which the acquaintance discussed the tattoo, before Platner himself revealed he had the tattoo in an interview last week, in an effort to preempt what he described as opposition research seeking to damage his insurgent Senate campaign.

Both JI and CNN also cited deleted Reddit posts in which Platner, a 41-year-old Marine veteran and an oyster farmer, defended the use of Nazi tattoos, including SS lighting bolts, among servicemembers. In one thread, a user had mentioned the Totenkopf, further indicating that Platner had been aware of its symbolism before he entered the race in August to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).

While Platner has apologized for some recently unearthed Reddit posts in which he had described himself as a “communist,” called all cops “bastards” and downplayed sexual assault in the U.S. military, he has otherwise dismissed JI’s reporting about the tattoo, which he said he had gotten with a group of “very inebriated” Marines while they were on shore leave in Croatia in 2007. 

Platner said the group had no idea it was a Nazi insignia and chose it simply because “skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing,” as he put it in an interview with the “Pod Save America” podcast.

He has also dismissed claims by a former political director — who recently resigned from his campaign over objections to his past posts — who said last week that Platner had an “antisemitic tattoo on his chest” that he acknowledged “could be problematic” at the beginning of his campaign.

Platner said on Wednesday he had covered up the tattoo with a dog-themed Celtic knot, displayed in a video he posted to social media soon after JI published its story.

“The amount of money and time it takes to dig through somebody’s entire past who has not lived a very public life is extensive, and yet they are willing to expend those resources,” Platner told a crowd of supporters during an event in Ogunquit, Maine, last week. “They are not trying to organize people. They are trying to destroy my life,” he said, alluding to his perceived political enemies.

Progressives also continued to rally behind Platner, who is facing Gov. Janet Mills and other candidates in the Democratic primary next year — a prelude to what party leadership views as a key race to regain a majority in the Senate.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is backing Platner and campaigned with him in Maine last month, was among top progressives who stood by the embattled Democrat hoping to withstand the ongoing scrutiny over his tattoo and now-deleted Reddit comments.

And not one Democratic senator has yet to say that Platner’s tattoo or his other controversies disqualify him from running, according to a recent NBC News report.

“He sounds like a human being to me,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said of Platner’s tattoo in a CNN interview on Sunday. “A human being who made mistakes, recognizes them, and is very open about it.”

Some polling has shown that Mills, a two-term governor who landed an endorsement from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), is trailing Platner by double digits — even among respondents surveyed amid the controversy over his past Reddit remarks.

A more recent survey released Saturday, however, showed Platner behind Mills by five points with 36%. But while his deficit broadly increased after voters were informed of his Nazi-linked tattoo, according to the poll conducted by SoCal Strategies, younger voters ages 18-29 still favored the former Marine.

Another recent poll, screenshots of which were shared with JI on Friday, included questions that had inaccurately described Platner’s tattoo as an “anti-Israel tattoo” and asking if such a tattoo “is disqualifying for a candidate seeking public office.”

It was unclear who had commissioned the poll. A spokesperson for Platner said he was not behind it. And the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which also released a poll late last week that showed Platner ahead of Mills, did not respond to a request for comment from JI on Friday.

Meanwhile, Jordan Wood, a former congressional aide also running in the Democratic primary, wrote last week that Platner’s “Reddit comments and Nazi SS Totenkopf tattoo are disqualifying.”
And another Democratic candidate in the primary, Daira Smith-Rodriguez, announced on Friday that she was ending her bid and endorsing Mills, citing her concerns over Platner’s past Reddit comments “as a survivor of military sexual assault.”

Graham Platner, a far-left Democratic candidate running for Senate in Maine who has captured the enthusiasm of the party’s grassroots base, sought to preempt rumors circulating in recent weeks that a black skull-and-cross bones tattoo on his chest is a Nazi symbol.

Speaking with Tommy Vietor on the “Pod Save America” political podcast, released on Monday night, Platner, 41, confirmed the existence of the tattoo, seen in video he shared displaying his bare chest, but suggested that his opponents in the race have been spreading claims that the symbol is affiliated with Nazism, which he forcefully denied.

“I am not a secret Nazi. Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general,” said Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer in Maine who has faced scrutiny over past online posts. “I would say a lifelong opponent.”

But according to a person who socialized with Platner when he was living in Washington, D.C., more than a decade ago, Platner had specifically acknowledged that the tattoo was a Totenkopf, the “death’s head” symbol adopted by an infamous Nazi SS unit that guarded concentration camps in World War II.

“He said, ‘Oh, this is my Totenkopf,’” the former acquaintance told Jewish Insider recently, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive issue. “He said it in a cutesy little way.”

The exchange occurred in 2012 at Tune Inn, a popular dive on Capitol Hill where Platner later worked as a bartender and was a frequent patron while he attended The George Washington University on the G.I. bill, according to the former acquaintance. He would often take his shirt off drinking with friends late at night at the bar, and on at least one occasion had stated he knew what the tattoo represented, the former acquaintance recalled.

Platner gave varying accounts of the image during this time, saying at one point he was aware it was a Totenkopf when he had first gotten the tattoo several years prior and at another time claiming he had not known, according to the former acquaintance.

The mixed accounts indicate that Platner has at least long been aware of the symbols’s connection to Nazism, even as he said in the podcast interview he was not familiar with any such association when he chose to get the tattoo.

Platner, who is running to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said he had gotten the tattoo in Split, Croatia, in 2007, when he and a group of “very inebriated” fellow Marines had time off while on deployment and decided to step into a parlor. “We chose a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall, because we were Marines, and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing,” he explained on the podcast.

“We got those tattoos, and then we all moved on with our lives,” he added, emphasizing he had later served in the Army and received a security clearance to work as a contractor for the State Department in Afghanistan. “I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it,” he continued, “I’ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years.”

In a statement shared with JI on Tuesday, Platner said he did not know about the tattoo’s connection to Nazi imagery until recently. “It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,” he said. “I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that  — and to insinuate that I did is disgusting. I am already planning to get this removed.”

Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who resigned from his campaign last week over her objection to his recently unearthed incendiary Reddit comments, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that “Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest.”

“He’s not an idiot, he’s a military history buff,” McDonald wrote in the post, which was reviewed by JI. “Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.”

McDonald said that Platner’s campaign “released it themselves to some podcast bros, along with a video of him shirtless and drunk at a wedding to try to get ahead of it.”

A spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement to JI that Platner’s tattoo “appears to be a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, and if true, it is troubling that a candidate for high office would have one.”

“We do understand that sometimes people get tattoos without understanding their hateful association,” the ADL spokesperson added. “In those cases, the bearer should be asked whether they repudiate its hateful meaning.”

Platner, a political newcomer who is facing Gov. Janet Mills and other candidates in the Democratic primary, launched his campaign in August and has raised more than $4 million while promoting a left-wing populist message — including staunch criticism of Israel and opposition to “fascists” — that garnered a high-profile endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). 

The Senate race is widely viewed by Democratic leadership as a major pickup opportunity in the midterm elections, as the party works to regain a majority in the upper chamber.

But Platner’s campaign has lost momentum in recent days amid the revelations that he had made several controversial comments while posting in Reddit forums. In a range of comments published anonymously, Platner, who has acknowledged that he wrote the posts and apologized for some of them, described himself as a “communist,” called all cops “bastards” and dismissed sexual assault in the military, among other remarks facing backlash.

In previously unreported posts reviewed by JI, Platner defended a man with a Nazi SS lightning bolt tattoo who later admitted to impersonating a federal officer at a Black Lives Matter protest in Las Vegas in 2020. “I will be sure to inform the black guys I know with bolts that they’re Nazis now and not USMC Scout/Snipers,” Platner said in a deleted Reddit post, referring to the Marines.

“Bolts were a STA icon since the ’80s at least, if not longer,” he wrote in another, using military jargon. “It was never official, but it sure as shit was tattooed on almost every HOG I knew between 2004-2012.”

Platner has also drawn scrutiny for appearing in a photo this summer with a white supremacist agitator in Maine, Richard Ward, who is running for a Bangor City Council seat.

Ward, a far-right activist who frequently spreads neo-Nazi rhetoric and imagery, wrote on Facebook in late August that he met and shook hands with Platner during an encounter at a Maine fair, posting a photo in which they are both seen standing side by side.

“Shaking hands with Graham Platner today at Blue Hill Fair,” Ward said. “Check out Graham Platner for U.S. Senate. We have a lot in common.” 

In the photo, Ward is pictured wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the number “88,” an apparent reference to a widely recognized neo-Nazi code for “Heil Hitler.” The post, a screenshot of which was obtained by JI, has since been deleted from Ward’s Facebook page.

A spokesperson for Platner’s campaign confirmed the encounter had taken place but said that he had quickly ended the conversation. “Graham promptly told Richard to f*** off and get the f*** away, like he would tell any Nazi,” the spokesperson told JI last month.

Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is putting anti-AIPAC and anti-Israel messaging front-and-center in fundraising appeals he’s circulating on social media.

Platner is currently running a series of Facebook and Instagram advertisements soliciting donations for his campaign that highlight his opposition to AIPAC and accuse Israel of committing genocide. The pitches indicate that Platner is treating the issue as central to rallying support for his campaign.

“My opponent has already been endorsed by AIPAC — an endorsement I will never get. Because what is happening right now in Gaza is a genocide,” Platner says in one direct-to-camera video ad focused specifically on his opposition to AIPAC. “I need your help because we refuse to take money from AIPAC, and we refuse to take money from the billionaires who support it.”

Every one of the eight active ads that Platner is running on Facebook and Instagram, according to Meta’s political advertising library tool, includes a repudiation of AIPAC, and around half accuse Israel of genocide. In most of Platner’s other ads, that language comes alongside comments on a range of other issues.

Some of the written advertisements being circulated by Platner’s campaign on Facebook and Instagram include language such as “there is a genocide happening in Palestine,” “why are we funding Netanyau’s genocide in Palestine?” and “I won’t kowtow to AIPAC or billionaires.” 

Platner’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Platner, in the days since launching his campaign, has been repeatedly and vocally critical of Israel and of AIPAC, including calling the group “weird.”

Platner’s potential general election opponent, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has been a vocal supporter of Israel in the Senate, as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. It’s not clear yet how Platner’s stance on Israel will play in the election, but Collins is already attacking him for his views. 

The candidate’s advocacy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears to date back to his high school days — a page from his yearbook that Platner’s campaign shared on X shows him holding a sign that appears to read “Free Kosovo Chechnya Kashmir Palestine Kurdistan Tibet.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is slated to appear with Graham Platner, a Democrat running to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), at a rally in Portland, Maine, on Labor Day, as the progressive leader from Vermont steps up his efforts to boost left-wing candidates who have been outspoken in their criticism of Israel and its ongoing war in Gaza.

Platner, a first-time candidate and Marine veteran who launched his campaign last week, has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and backed Sanders’ recent resolutions to block arms sales to Israel. Platner’s rhetoric has faced criticism from Collins, a moderate Republican seeking her sixth term.

Sanders, who announced the rally on Monday, has not officially endorsed Platner, a 40-year-old oyster farmer whose past social media activity indicates he is a longtime admirer of Vermont’s democratic socialist senator. 

The Portland event on Sept. 1, the next stop on Sanders’ nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, follows a rally in Michigan on Saturday at which the senator sought to boost Abdul El-Sayed, a staunch critic of Israel who is vying to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) in a crowded primary next year. 

In remarks over the weekend, Sanders, an early backer of El-Sayed’s campaign for the Democratic nomination, highlighted his efforts to restrict U.S. military aid to Israel and spoke out against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, claiming that Washington is “way out of touch with where the American people are” on what he called “clearly a moral issue.”

“We are paying for the starvation of children in Gaza,” Sanders said to the crowd gathered at the Miller Auditorium at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. 

El-Sayed, for his part, echoed those remarks, saying that party leadership “is still pulling its punch on the fact that we are subsidizing a genocide in Gaza.”

“Maybe we should be using our taxpayer dollars, I don’t know, to build schools for our kids, rather than sending blank checks to foreign militaries who drop bombs on other kids,” El-Sayed said in his speech last weekend.

El-Sayed, a former health director in Michigan, is facing progressive state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a leading pro-Israel voice in the House who is favored by party leaders.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is criticizing Graham Platner, a Democrat running against her in next year’s election, for singling out AIPAC as a “weird” interest group in new remarks to a local newspaper published on Tuesday, where he pledged to decline support from the pro-Israel lobbying organization.

“Sen. Collins is a strong supporter of AIPAC, a bipartisan organization that promotes stronger ties between the United States and Israel,” Shawn Roderick, a spokesperson for Collins’ campaign, told Jewish Insider on Wednesday. “Nothing about their work is ‘weird’ — in fact, it has never been more important given the aggressive antisemitism that we have seen around the world since the appalling Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.”

In his comment to the Midcoast Villager, Platner, a 40-year-old oyster farmer and Marine veteran who announced his bid to challenge Collins on Tuesday, noted that his campaign would reject backing from corporate super PACs and donations from interest groups such as AIPAC that he dismissed as “weird.”

“My view here is very simple,” Platner told JI on Wednesday when asked to elaborate on his initial comment, which had not been quoted in full. “What is happening in Gaza is a genocide, I refuse to take money from AIPAC or any group that supports the genocide in Gaza.”

In other interviews this week, Platner, a political newcomer, has similarly accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and also endorsed efforts to block U.S. arms sales to Israel.

AIPAC’s political action committee is backing Collins, in keeping with its commitment to defend friendly incumbents who are up for reelection. Collins, who is now seeking her sixth term, has been among her party’s leading moderate voices, pushing to maintain a bipartisan consensus on support for Israel.

Marshall Wittmann, a spokesperson for AIPAC, questioned Platner’s recent comment about the group in a statement to JI on Wednesday. “More than 12,000 Maine voters are members of AIPAC and advocates for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship who don’t think it’s ‘weird’ for Americans to engage in the democratic process,” he said. “We are proud to support Sen. Collins who is a stalwart champion of an alliance that benefits Maine and America.”

Still, Platner’s seemingly off-handed remark more broadly underscores a growing disconnect between AIPAC and the Democratic Party, where even some of the staunchest supporters of Israel have been put on the defensive amid an international uproar over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

In recent weeks, two Democratic House members who have received financial backing from AIPAC’s super PAC in their primaries, Reps. Maxine Dexter (D-OR) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC), both said they would support efforts to block transfers of offensive weapons to Israel. Foushee, for her part, also said earlier this month that she would not accept further support from AIPAC in her reelection campaign next year.

Meanwhile, Mallory McMorrow, a top Democratic candidate running for Senate in Michigan, revealed on Wednesday that she is urging AIPAC to refrain from engaging in the primary, where she is facing a strong pro-Israel advocate, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), and a prominent left-wing critic of Israel, Abdul El-Sayed, who is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

The group declined to comment on McMorrow’s request. 

Even as AIPAC has been under attack, it has continued to maintain friendly relationships with Democrats and Republicans, hosting a number of freshman lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on trips to Israel this month.