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Scott Wiener, Jewish Democrat and critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, vies for Nancy Pelosi’s seat
Scott Wiener grew up helping his mother fold the newsletter for the tiny Conservative synagogue his parents built in rural New Jersey — a congregation so small it borrowed space from a Lutheran church. Half a century later, the California state senator is running for Nancy Pelosi’s seat, bringing a Jewish story rooted in survival to a political moment defined by division.
His view of Israel, shaped by family history and moral discomfort with the Gaza war, puts him at odds with an older generation of Jewish Democrats.
In an interview on Thursday, just hours after Pelosi announced she would step down following four decades of service in Washington, Wiener said his Jewish identity and stories of his ancestors escaping pogroms and fascism in Eastern Europe guide him to take a more human-centered approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict — one that is often critical of Israel and reflects a broader realignment among Jewish Democrats in recent months.
“I care deeply about Israel as the home of one half of all Jews on the planet,” Wiener said. “And I want to recognize the basic humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians living there to a peaceful existence.”
Wiener, 55, is expressing a growing view among Democratic incumbents and candidates now running for office when speaking about Israel. He was an early supporter of a bilateral ceasefire, called the war in Gaza “indefensible,” and said he would back congressional measures to halt the sale of offensive weapons to Israel to protest the country’s leadership. “In my view, it’s a moral stain” on the U.S.-Israel alliance, he said about Israel’s conduct of the war.
And like Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, who recently announced a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey, Wiener has promised not to take contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has become increasingly unpopular among some mainstream Democrats in recent years. “I’m not seeking AIPAC’s support because I have policy differences with AIPAC,” he said.
Wiener insisted that his view reflects that of the “large majority of Democrats in Congress” who don’t want to sever ties with Israel. “I strongly support the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Wiener said about his position. “I want Israel to have a government that is committed to democracy and to peace and a Palestine that is not being run by Hamas.”
At least six candidates have registered to compete in the June 2026 Democratic primary to succeed Pelosi in California. The field includes Saikat Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who has called the war in Gaza a genocide.
Who is Scott Wiener?
Born in Philadelphia, Wiener grew up in Turnersville, a rural town in southern New Jersey that he described as being conservative and Christian. When the family moved there in the early 1970s, their neighbors asked why they didn’t have horns, Wiener recalled.
In the 30-minute phone interview, Wiener said his ancestors fled pogroms and state-sponsored antisemitism in the early 1900s from Lithuania, Romania, Russia, and the borderlands of Belarus and Ukraine, arriving in Philadelphia between 1903 and 1909.
His childhood revolved around Judaism. His parents — a small business owner and a teacher — gathered a dozen Jewish families from nearby areas and founded a small Conservative congregation, B’nai Tikvah. At first, the group met in a Lutheran church, draping a sheet over the cross during services.
Rabbi Leonard Zucker, an Orthodox rabbi from Cherry Hill, would come to town each Friday before sundown and sleep at the Wieners’ home for Shabbat so he could walk to the synagogue. Wiener would help his mom, who was the treasurer, fold, stamp and mail the monthly newsletter to members. Within 15 years, the congregation grew to 150 families and moved into its own building.
“I did not have any friends outside of the synagogue until I was in 10th grade,” Wiener said. In public school, he experienced what he describes as a “fair amount of antisemitism.” He said kids called him a kike and a Christ-hater; someone tried to burn a cross on their lawn. He said his sixth-grade history textbook had a chapter about how the Jews begged the Romans to kill Jesus. In high school, he helped form a committee to address religious intolerance after a Christian minister delivered a sermon at a graduation.
Wiener came out as gay while at Duke University, and was elected president of his fraternity.
After college, he spent a year in Santiago, Chile, on a Fulbright scholarship, finding there a local synagogue where he could attend High Holiday services. He later moved to San Francisco to work as a litigation attorney at Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe before becoming a deputy city attorney. He served on the Board of Supervisors for six years before being elected to the state Senate in 2016. At 6-foot-7, Wiener likes to note that he’s the tallest elected official in the California Legislature. He also co-chairs its Jewish Caucus.
His childhood memories shaped one of his signature legislative victories: a law requiring that antisemitism be explicitly addressed in the state’s ethnic-studies curriculum. The bill, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month, builds on existing civil rights protections to ensure that students of all faiths and backgrounds can participate in public education free from harassment, bullying or bias.
Wiener said he doesn’t consider himself very religious. He rotates between various San Francisco synagogues — Congregation Emanu-El, Sherith Israel and Sha’ar Zahav — on the High Holidays and special occasions.
Wiener’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
In his statement days after Oct. 7, Wiener declared that “Hamas must be entirely eliminated,” and condemned the subsequent pro-Palestinian protests, one of which disrupted a Halloween pumpkin carving event he hosted in 2024.
But as Israel’s military campaign in Gaza intensified, his rhetoric shifted. Weeks into the war, he had already called for a negotiated ceasefire.
By mid-2025, he was calling the bombardment of Gaza “indefensible,” and in September of this year, he said the Israeli plan to invade Gaza City was “abhorrent and unacceptable.”
In the interview, Wiener said the war in Gaza went “far and beyond self-defense” and rooting out terror. “The obliteration of Gaza and the scale of death among Palestinians,” he said, “is an immoral thing.”
The post-Pelosi test
Pelosi, who often spoke of her pride in her Jewish grandchildren and her father’s early support for Israel’s founding, represented a generation of Democrats for whom unwavering pro-Israel support was a given. Wiener’s bid to succeed her could signal the start of a different era.
In a fundraising email sent Wednesday, the day after Zohran Mamdani, a critic of Israel, was elected New York City’s first Muslim mayor, AIPAC warned that “anti-Israel forces in America are energized, mobilized, and taking the fight directly to us.” The race for Pelosi’s seat could become a key test of how Congress approaches Israel in the years ahead.
Support from Jewish Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, for a bill restricting offensive arms sales to Israel highlights the growing divide within the party over how to back an ally.
Wiener said his support for restricting U.S. arms sales to Israel would apply only under a right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We have to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are not being used to do what Israel just did in Gaza,” he said. “We need to be able to strike that balance and have that kind of relationship where it’s not just a blank check.”
“I hope that changes,” he added. “I hope the conversation can be led by the broad middle — by people who simply want peace.”
The post Scott Wiener, Jewish Democrat and critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, vies for Nancy Pelosi’s seat appeared first on The Forward.
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Iran Opposes Grossi’s UN Secretary-General Candidacy, Accuses Him of Failing to Uphold International Law
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi holds a press conference on the opening day of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
Iran has publicly opposed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi’s potential appointment as UN Secretary-General next year, accusing him of failing to uphold international law by not condemning US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.
During a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, sharply criticized Grossi, calling him unfit” to serve as UN Secretary-General next year, Iranian media reported.
“A candidate who has deliberately failed to uphold the UN Charter — or to condemn unlawful military attacks against safeguarded, peaceful nuclear facilities … undermines confidence in his ability to serve as a faithful guardian of the charter and to discharge his duties independently, impartially, and without political bias or fear of powerful states,” the Iranian diplomat said.
With UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ term ending in December next year, member states have already begun nominating candidates to take over the role ahead of the expected 2026 election.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel’s relationship with Guterres has spiraled downward, reaching a low point last year when then-Foreign Minister Israel Katz labeled the UN “antisemitic and anti-Israeli” and declared Guterres persona non grata after the top UN official failed to condemn Tehran for its ballistic missile attack against the Jewish state.
Last week, Argentina officially nominated Grossi to succeed Guterres as the next UN Secretary-General.
To be elected, a nominee must first secure the support of at least nine members of the UN Security Council and avoid a veto from any of its five permanent members — the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France.
Afterward, the UN General Assembly votes, with a simple majority needed to confirm the organization’s next leader.
As head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog since 2019, Grossi has consistently urged Iran to provide transparency on its nuclear program and cooperate with the agency, efforts the Islamist regime has repeatedly rejected and obstructed.
Despite Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes rather than weapons development, Western powers have said there is no “credible civilian justification” for the country’s nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”
With prospects for renewed negotiations or nuclear cooperation dwindling, Iran has been intensifying efforts to rebuild its air and defense capabilities decimated during the 12-day war with Israel.
On Monday, Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), declared that the IAEA has no authority to inspect sites targeted during the June war, following Grossi’s renewed calls for Tehran to allow inspections of its nuclear sites and expand cooperation with the agency.
Iran has also announced plans to expand its nuclear cooperation with Russia and advance the construction of new nuclear power plants, as both countries continue to deepen their bilateral relations.
According to AEOI spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi, one nuclear power plant is currently operational, while other two are under construction, with new contracts signed during a recent high-level meeting in Moscow.
Kamalvandi also said Iran plans to build four nuclear power plants in the country’s southern region as part of its long-term partnership with Russia.
During a joint press conference in Moscow on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated Iran’s commitment to defending the country’s “legal nuclear rights” under the now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal, noting that Tehran’s nuclear policies have remained within the international legal framework.
Iran’s growing ties with Russia, particularly in nuclear cooperation, have deepened in recent years as both countries face mounting Western sanctions and seek to expand their influence in opposition to Western powers.
Russia has not only helped Iran build its nuclear program but also consistently defended the country’s “nuclear rights” on the global stage, while opposing the imposition of renewed economic sanctions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the reinstatement of UN sanctions against Iran as a “disgrace to diplomacy.”
In an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN), Lavrov accused European powers of attempting to blame Tehran for the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal, despite what he described as Iran’s compliance with the agreement.
Prior to the 12-day war, the IAEA flagged a series of Iranian violations of the deal.
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Eurovision Host Says It Will Not Drown Out Any Boos During Israel’s Performance
ORF executive producer Michael Kroen attends a press conference about the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, Dec. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisa Leutner
The host broadcaster of the next Eurovision Song Contest, Austria’s ORF, will not ban the Palestinian flag from the audience or drown out booing during Israel’s performance as has happened at previous shows, organizers said on Tuesday.
The 70th edition of the contest in May will have just 35 entries, the smallest number of participants since 2003, after five national broadcasters including those of Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands said they would boycott the show in protest at Israel’s participation.
What is usually a celebration of national diversity, pop music, and high camp has become embroiled in diplomatic strife, with those boycotting saying it would be unconscionable to take part given the number of civilians killed in Gaza during Israel’s military campaign following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
“We will allow all official flags that exist in the world, if they comply with the law and are in a certain form – size, security risks, etc.,” the show’s executive producer, Michael Kroen, told a news conference organized by ORF.
“We will not sugarcoat anything or avoid showing what is happening, because our task is to show things as they are,” Kroen said.
AUSTRIA SUPPORTED ISRAEL PARTICIPATING
The broadcaster will not drown out the sound of any booing from the crowd, as happened this year during Israel’s performance, ORF’s director of programming Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz said.
“We won’t play artificial applause over it at any point,” she said.
Israel’s 2025 entrant, Yuval Raphael, was at the Nova music festival that was a target of the Hamas-led attack. The CEO of Israeli broadcaster KAN had likened the efforts to exclude Israel in 2026 to a form of “cultural boycott.”
ORF and the Austrian government were among the biggest supporters of Israel participating over the objections of countries including Iceland and Slovenia, which will also boycott the next contest in protest. ORF Director General Roland Weissmann visited Israel in November to show his support.
This year’s show drew around 166 million viewers, according to the European Broadcasting Union, more than the roughly 128 million who Nielsen estimates watched the Super Bowl.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led terrorists killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel.
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Antisemitism Allowed to Fester in Australia, Says Daughter of Wounded Holocaust Survivor
Victoria Teplitsky, daughter of a Holocaust survivor who was wounded at the Bondi shootings, stands at a floral memorial in honor of the victims of the mass shooting targeting a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jeremy Piper
Government authorities have not done enough to stamp out hatred of Jews in Australia, which has allowed it to fester in the aftermath of Oct. 7, said the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who was wounded at the Bondi shootings on Sunday.
Victoria Teplitsky, 53, a retired childcare center owner, said that the father and son who allegedly went on a 10-minute shooting spree that killed 15 people had been “taught to hate,” which was a bigger factor in the attack than access to guns.
“It’s not the fact that those two people had a gun. It’s the fact that hatred has been allowed to fester against the Jewish minority in Australia,” she told Reuters in an interview.
“We are angry at our government because it comes from the top, and they should have stood up for our community with strength. And they should have squashed the hatred rather than kind of letting it slide,” she said.
“We’ve been ignored. We feel like, are we not Australian enough? Do we not matter to our government?”
The attackers fired upon hundreds of people at a Jewish festival during a roughly 10-minute killing spree, forcing people to flee and take shelter before both were shot by police.
RISING ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS
Antisemitic incidents have been rising in Australia since the war in Gaza erupted after Palestinian terrorist group Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in an attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
A rise in such incidents in the past sixteen months prompted the head of the nation’s main intelligence agency to declare that antisemitism was his top priority in terms of threat.
“This was not a surprise to the Jewish community. We warned the government of this many, many times over,” Teplitsky said.
“We’ve had synagogues that have been graffitied, graffiti everywhere, and we’ve had synagogues that have been bombed,” she added, referring to a 2024 arson attack in Melbourne in which no one was killed.
Teplitsky’s father Semyon, 86, bled heavily after being shot in the leg, and now is facing several operations as doctors piece bone back together with cement, then remove the cement from the leg, which he still may lose, she said.
“He’s in good spirits, but he’s also very angry. Angry that this happened, that this was allowed to happen in Australia, the country that he took his children to, to be safe, to be away from antisemitism, to be away from Jew hatred.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “did nothing” to curb antisemitism.
Albanese repeated on Tuesday Australia‘s support for a two-state solution. Anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protests have been common in Australia since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza.
At a press briefing on Monday, Albanese read through a list of actions his government had taken, including criminalizing hate speech and incitement to violence and a ban on the Nazi salute. He also pledged to extend funding for physical security for Jewish community groups.