In the increasingly heated Illinois Democratic Senate primary, one claim has become a familiar refrain from Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and her allies, that Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) “voted to thank” Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

But the criticisms don’t tell the full story. They refer to a resolution that was principally focused on condemning the firebombing attack on an Israeli hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., last summer, which also included language about immigration enforcement.

“I want to abolish ICE. My opponent voted to thank them,” Stratton has repeated in at least four separate interviews and candidate forums over the past few weeks.

It’s an attack that has also been repeated in an ad campaign against Krishnamoorthi by Illinois Future PAC, a super PAC largely funded by Gov. JB Pritzker and others in his family. “[Krishnamoorthi] even voted to honor ICE,” the ad states. “When Illinois needed a fighter, Raja Krishnamoorthi sold us out.”

The resolution condemned the attack in Boulder and offered prayers for the victims, while also focusing in part on the fact that the accused attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, had overstayed his visa and work permit. It urged “free and open communication” between state and federal law enforcement” and “expresse[d] gratitude to law enforcement officers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland.”

At the time, some Democrats criticized Republicans for the ICE language, seeing it as a deliberate political gambit by Republicans to provide fodder for accusing Democrats of being weak on antisemitism, expecting many to vote against the resolution over the ICE language.

Ultimately, the resolution split Democrats, with 75, largely moderates and pro-Israel members, supporting the legislation and 113 Democrats opposing it.

Krishnamoorthi pushed back on the attacks in a recent debate, responding to Stratton, “That resolution, Lieutenant Governor, you know was about condemning antisemitism, and that’s something that I will always do.”

The Stratton campaign said that the lieutenant governor “will always speak up and condemn antisemitism and would have proudly supported [a separate bipartisan resolution] condemning antisemitism, politically motivated violence, and the terror attack in Boulder that passed in the House the same day. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the second resolution, HRES 488, an ‘unserious effort.’ Expressing gratitude to ICE at a time when Chicago’s immigrant communities were already under attack is a line that Juliana would not cross.”

Stratton did condemn the attack in Boulder at the time.

The resolution came at a particularly tense moment, as ICE was undertaking some of its first major deportation efforts of the Trump administration, in Los Angeles, prompting protests and condemnations from many Democrats.

Both Stratton and the Illinois Future PAC are also hitting Krishnamoorthi over past votes for ICE funding and donations he has received from Palantir, a tech firm that contracts with ICE.

Pritzker, who is Jewish and seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, also recently grabbed attention with comments, through a spokesperson, condemning AIPAC for having “abandoned its bipartisan principles and become a pro-Trump organization.”

The billionaire Pritzker was a onetime AIPAC donor.

Pritzker did not respond to a request for comment. Illinois Future PAC could not be reached for comment.

The AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC launched a $500,000 ad campaign this weekend targeting former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who is running in a special election for the seat formerly held by Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill.

The ads highlight Malinowski’s vote in favor of additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement years ago, while he was in office representing the neighboring district. The vote also received support from a majority of Democrats.

“There are several candidates in this race that are far more supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship than Tom Malinowski,” UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton told Jewish Insider. Dorton also confirmed the size of the ad buy.

Its decision to aggressively single out Malinowski is unexpected given that he has not expressed the same sort of caustic anti-Israel views that many of the candidates the super PAC traditionally targets have espoused. Malinowski, a former State Department official, was a prominent voice on foreign policy matters during his time in Congress and maintained a pro-Israel record.

“The ad itself is obviously — and unforgivably — cynical and dishonest. The strategy behind it is inexplicable. If AIPAC’s definition of pro-Israel now excludes even someone like me, who passionately supports Israel but won’t commit to a blank check for anything [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] might want, there won’t be enough pro-Israel people left in America to sustain the relationship,” Malinowski said in a statement to JI. “I’m confident people will see through this. But if they were to get away with it here, they will do the same to many other Democrats who at some point voted for border funding.”

Various lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans — who AIPAC supports also voted for the border funding package.

In a recent interview with JI, Malinowski described himself as pro-Israel and expressed support for the Trump administration’s Gaza peace plan and strikes on Iran’s nuclear program. But he also said he’s open to policies conditioning or restricting aid, and said the U.S. should act as “counterweight” to the Israeli far right. He added that U.S. aid shouldn’t be used to facilitate Israeli actions that the U.S. itself doesn’t support.

Multiple other candidates in the Democratic primary for the 11th Congressional District have expressed more critical views of Israel, including Analilia Mejia, who leads a progressive advocacy group. Mejia suggested in a candidate forum last week that Arab Israelis do not enjoy the same level of citizenship as Jewish Israelis and indicated she would not support sending offensive weapons to Israel as a member of Congress.

She’s endorsed by a series of progressives critical of Israel including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Greg Casar (D-TX), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Chuy Garcia (D-IL), as well as the Working Families Party and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.

Other candidates in the race include Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, who expressed support for continued and unrestricted U.S. aid to Israel in a recent interview with JI; Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who voiced her support for the U.S.-Israel relationship in a recent candidate forum; and Jeff Grayzel, the deputy mayor of Morris Township whose path to victory relies upon the support of Jewish voters in the district.

Gill, backed by Gov. Phil Murphy, and Malinowski have generally been seen as the front-runners.

Protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations that have engulfed San Francisco’s streets this week took an antisemitic turn on Monday night when a local Jewish-owned civic engagement hub and community space had its windows smashed and walls defaced with slurs including “Die Zio,” “The Only Good Settler is a Dead One,” “Death 2 Israel is a Promise” and “Intifada.” 

“There is no justification for attacking me other than the fact that I am Jewish,” Manny Yekutiel, owner of the Mission District event space Manny’s, which is in disrepair following the vandalism and break-in, told Jewish Insider. “My business is not a pro-Israel business. I am not Israeli. This is not a space that represents Israel in any way.”

The space was also the target of antisemitic graffiti in October around the one year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks. The most recent attack is currently being investigated as a hate crime. 

In the Bay Area, over 150 people were arrested on Sunday and Monday following protests against President Donald Trump’s travel ban, latest immigration policies and ICE raids. Similar protests spread across the country — including in Los Angeles where 4,000 National Guard members and 700 U.S. Marines were deployed on Monday. 

Yekutiel believes the protests against ICE are “necessary” because ongoing deportations are “stoking hatred” and “we need to stand with immigrants.” While Yekutiel says he will continue identifying with left-wing causes, he also said the attack on his business makes the protests concerning for Jews.

The attack on Manny’s “undermines the very values such movements claim to uphold” such as “justice and welcome the stranger,” the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area said in a statement.

Monday’s vandalism in San Francisco comes as the Jewish community faces an “elevated threat” following a surge of violent antisemitic attacks across the country in recent weeks, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security warned last week. Last month, two Israeli Embassy employees were killed in a shooting in Washington. Days later in Boulder, Colo., 15 people advocating for the release of hostages in Gaza were injured in a firebombing by an Egyptian national who overstayed his visa in the U.S. 

Trump announced his travel ban — which bars nationals of 12 countries from entering the U.S. — last week following the Boulder attack.

“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas,” Trump said. “We don’t want them.”