Left-wing California candidates and elected officials have been attacked for their ties to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has continued to support the Palestinian cause after Hamas’s deadly terror attacks killed over 1,000 Israelis.
In response to the attacks on Saturday, the national DSA stated that Hamas’s killing of civilians was "not unprovoked" and expressed its "solidarity with Palestine."
The San Francisco DSA called on its supporters to "join the fight" to "decolonize Palestine—from the river to the sea," a phrase that implies the eradication of the Jewish state.
San Francisco supervisor Dean Preston echoed these sentiments, criticizing Israel’s "unconscionable" invasion of Gaza and expressing his support for Palestines’s "struggle for freedom."
In response, Tyler Gregory, CEO of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council, stated that Preston should be "automatically disqualified from office."
Other California politicians have also come under fire in recent days for their ties to the DSA, according to Politico. These include Sacramento mayoral candidate Flojaune Cofer and L.A. city councilwoman Nithya Raman. Raman disavowed the national DSA’s statement Monday, but her opponent Ethan Weaver criticized her prior "silence" and called for her to "reject the DSA endorsement."
The DSA also counts six House Democrats in their ranks, including "Squad" members Reps. Cori Bush (Mo.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), who has minimized the terror attacks and blamed them on Israeli "apartheid."