Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, after Netanyahu linked the terror attack in which 15 people were killed at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, to Canberra’s support for a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu highlighted in a speech on Sunday that he had warned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that Canberra’s recognition of a Palestinian state was fueling antisemitism and endangering Australian Jews. Netanyahu further accused Albanese of failing to take action against antisemitism.

Sanders issued a statement in response on Tuesday: “No, Mr. Netanyahu. Speaking out on behalf of the Palestinian people is not antisemitic. Opposing the disgraceful policies of your extremist government is not antisemitic. Condemning your genocidal war, which has killed more than 70,000 people — mostly women and children — is not antisemitic. Demanding that your government stop bombing hospitals and starving children is not antisemitic.”

He said that “we must continue to oppose antisemitism and all forms of racism and bigotry. At the same time, we must demand a world in which international law and human rights are respected by all governments, without exception.”

Sanders opted against signing onto a joint statement issued Monday by Jewish Senate Democrats condemning the Sydney attack. Asked about his decision not to join the collective statement from Jewish Senate Democrats, a Sanders spokesperson pointed JI to Sanders’ comment on Sunday mourning the attack, in which the Vermont senator called antisemitism “a disgusting and cowardly ideology” that is “growing worldwide” and added, “we must be equally committed to fighting all forms of” bigotry. 

Georgia is used to political dynasties. The daughter of former Senator Sam Nunn and the grandson of President Jimmy Carter have both run for statewide office in recent years, while incumbent Senator David Perdue is the first cousin of former governor and current Trump cabinet member Sonny Perdue. But Georgians aren’t used to dynasties coming from other parts of the country.

Democrat Matt Lieberman is hoping to change that in 2020. The suburban Atlanta businessman and son of former Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) is the first candidate to jump into Georgia’ special election for the U.S. Senate. The seat is currently held by Johnny Isakson, who will resign at the end of the year. Isakson’s departure, announced earlier this year, will prompt Republican governor Brian Kemp to appoint a replacement who will try to hold the seat in a non-partisan special election in November 2020.

Lieberman enters the race as a relative political unknown, despite his famous father. Howard Franklin, a Democratic political strategist in Georgia, told JI that he didn’t think Lieberman’s entry would keep other well-known names out of the race. Lieberman had not even been on the radar of well-connected Democrats in the state until recently.

In an interview with Jewish Insider earlier in October, Lieberman joked that he was winning “in a blowout” as the only declared candidate in this race. A businessman and former principal at a Jewish day school, Lieberman said he hadn’t expected to run for office, despite his upbringing. “Honestly, I thought about it at a much, much younger age coming out of law school, and I hadn’t thought about it in 20 years,” said the Democratic Senate hopeful. “I have not been positioning or angling for this. I am truly running as an outsider as a fed up citizen of Georgia and for the fed up citizens of Georgia and I think I got to a point where a lot of us are right now, I couldn’t take it any more I felt compelled to get up off of my butt and do something.”

Lieberman is running as a mainstream Democrat who supports impeaching Trump and implementing a public option to allow Americans to buy into a government-run health care plan. This proposal was almost passed during the debate over the Affordable Care Act, but was blocked by objections from then-Senator Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman’s relationship with his father will likely present some issues with liberal voters. In addition to blocking progressive goals like a public option, the senior Lieberman broke from the Democratic Party first by successfully running for re-election as an independent in 2006 and then by actively campaigning for John McCain during the 2008 presidential election.

Matt Lieberman recognized the challenge that comes along with having a high-profile politician as a father, telling JI, “for voters here in Georgia who like [Joe Lieberman], I hope they’ll give me a little bit of an extra hearing, and for the people who really don’t like him I would just remind them that technically speaking we are two different people and I think they’ll give me a hearing as well. Honestly, I think ultimately people are fair in that regard, even if they have no intention of supporting you, I think they will hear you out so I think people will do me that courtesy because it’s what engaged citizens ought to do so.”

Former Senator Lieberman’s reputation has left a number of progressive activists skeptical, however. Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a progressive Democratic activist group, told JI, “Joe Lieberman is the corporate war-monger past of the Democratic Party. I don’t know anything about his son, but voters don’t love insider legacies and don’t love corporate greed and don’t love the Iraq War — so Joe Lieberman’s reputation likely won’t be helpful in this campaign.”

Cenk Uygur, the host of the Young Turks and a leading progressive activist, used even stronger language with JI. “The sins of the father should not be passed on to the son but neither should any degree of credibility,” he told JI. “Why are we having a conversation about this guy? Because of his last name and only because of his last name. I’m tired of these wannabe royals in America. His policy positions are milquetoast, which does run in the family. Apparently, we’ve gotten the Liebermans to a public option, give us a couple of more generations and we might finally get them to single payer.”

Regardless of initial skepticism, Matt Lieberman is already using his family background to amplify his progressive message. In his campaign announcement video, he tied the controversial 2000 Florida recount to Stacey Abrams’s defeat in the 2018 Georgia governor’s race, one that Abrams has claimed was stolen. Lieberman has declined to go that far, telling JI, “I think there were enough problems that were identified in the election to make a reasonable person not just worried but frustrated that it wasn’t run in a better way with fewer problems.”

On foreign policy, Lieberman expressed concern that Trump had “completely sold out” the Kurds, whom he described as a “reliable [and] heroic ally of the United States under difficult circumstances.” In his view, “we should be sticking by our allies.” Lieberman went on to “extend that thought to the issue of our alliance with Israel and one of the concerns it’s fair to have when it comes to this president is that no one really knows where he is going to be tomorrow on an issue and why he’s going to be there and that’s problematic.”

Lieberman struck far more equivocal notes about the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. “I think the Iran nuclear deal could have been better,” said the Senate hopeful. “I will say only as a lay person, only as a citizen, that the benefit of delaying Iran’s nuclear capability may well have been outweighed by the cost of freeing up enormous sums of money for Iran to wreak havoc.” Lieberman added “I think any future deal would need to look at what that experience has been and would look at what Iran has done with the funds that were opened up to it and take that into much more serious consideration given actual events that have transpired.”Before the election can happen, Lieberman still has to find out who his opponent will be. Republican Governor Brian Kemp, whom Lieberman parodied in his first campaign ad, will appoint Isakson’s replacement by end of the year. The special election will be a jungle primary in which candidates from all parties will compete against each other in November 2020 to serve the remaining two years of Isakson’s term. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a runoff between the top two finishers for the seat will be held in January 2021.

Westerville, Ohio — In a heated debate Tuesday night, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) bore the brunt of the attacks from rival candidates after taking the lead in national and early state polls.

On a crowded stage of 12 presidential hopefuls, the Massachusetts Democrat faced barbed questions about her health care and tax policies from more moderate rivals including South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

Buttigieg, who launched a web ad attacking Warren for her support for Medicare for All before Tuesday’s debate, tried to portray her as a classic Washington politician reluctant to acknowledge the tax increases that would come as part of the plan. Warren has emphasized that costs will go down “for hardworking middle-class families” as part of legislation intended to provide free health care coverage to every American. 

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has long boasted of “writing the damn [Medicare for All] bill,” acknowledged that taxes would go up, but “for virtually everybody, the tax increase they pay will be substantially less — substantially less than what they were paying for premiums and out-of-pocket expansions.” Klobuchar praised Sanders “for being honest” and then accused Warren of not telling Americans “where we’re going to send the invoice.” Klobuchar defended her comments after the debate, telling reporters, “I wasn’t sharply attacking anyone, I was making my case about why I’m the best candidate.”

Although in past debates, Warren had been attacked by centrist candidates for her support for Medicare for All, that criticism came from long-shot candidates like former Congressman John Delaney (D-MD) and former Governor John Hickenlooper (D-CO). The Massachusetts Democrat emphasized her health care policy as a moral position and said that “the issue is whether the Democratic Party has the guts to stand up to the health care industry.”

Warren faced attacks from rivals on a variety of other topics: Businessman Andrew Yang criticized her support of a wealth tax, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) attempted to pin her down on foreign policy and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) went after her for refusing to call on Twitter to delete President Donald Trump’s account.

Warren also had a tense exchange with former Vice President Joe Biden. After Warren touted her efforts to create the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) during the Obama administration, Biden noted his own efforts at the time, telling her, “I went to the floor and I got you the votes.” In response, Warren pointedly thanked Barack Obama for his efforts.

The debate also featured the first extended discussion of foreign policy in the six presidential debates of the 2020 cycle, and came days after Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria as the Turkish military launched an invasion of the country.

Gabbard, who has defended the regime of Bashar al-Assad, served as a foil for the other candidates on stage, criticizing “regime-change wars” and attacking “the mainstream media” and politicians from both parties for having, along with Trump, the “blood of Kurds” on their hands. Gabbard’s comments prompted a fierce rebuke from Buttigieg about the president’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces. “Part of what makes it possible for the United States to get people to put their lives on the line to back us up is the idea that we will back them up, too,” said the South Bend mayor, who served a tour in Afghanistan as a Navy reservist. “This president has betrayed American values. Our credibility has been tattered.”

Elizabeth Warren argued, “I think that we ought to get out of the Middle East.  I don’t think we should have troops in the Middle East but we have to do it the right way, the smart way.” Warren’s comments were strongly criticized by fellow senator Chris Coons (D-DE) after the debate. Coons, a Biden supporter, told reporters that Warren’s statement “showed a striking degree of naïveté or ill preparedness.”

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke clashed with the other candidates over his support for mandatory buybacks of assault weapons. O’Rourke, whose hometown of El Paso, Texas, was the site of a mass shooting in August, insisted that if assault weapons “are too dangerous to sell, they are also too dangerous to own.” He sparred with Buttigieg, who said that the Texas Democrat was focused on “purity tests,” arguing that O’Rourke had no clear plan for how he would take assault weapons away from their owners. O’Rourke also faced criticism from former HUD Secretary Julian Castro. “I am not going to give these police officers another reason to go door to door in certain communities, because police violence is also gun violence, and we need to address that,” Castro said.

Democrats did find common ground in the first debate since the beginning of the impeachment inquiry against Trump. On stage Tuesday night, there was unanimous support for the impeachment inquiry centered around Trump’s effort to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden’s son Hunter Biden. Only hours after the former vice president’s son admitted to bad judgment in an interview with ABC News, his father insisted on the debate stage “my son did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong.”