Scott Wiener Pivots After Congressional Forum: ‘Israel Has Committed Genocide in Gaza’

State Sen. Scott Wiener, who for years has refrained from calling Israel’s attacks on Gaza a genocide, has now changed his position as he hits the campaign trail for California’s 11th Congressional seat.

“I’ve stopped short of calling it genocide, but I can’t anymore,” Wiener, who is Jewish, said in a post on the social media platform X on Sunday evening.

The California Democratic lawmaker’s shift comes less than a week after his appearance in a debate between candidates vying to fill Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s seat after she retires early next year.

In a lightning-question round, Wiener and the other two leading candidates, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and former tech engineer Saikat Chakrabarti, were asked to respond “yes” or “no” to whether they think Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians.

Chan and Chakrabarti said yes. Wiener did not answer the question, prompting boos and jeers from live audience members and scathing comments in online chat rooms following the event.

Wiener pointed directly to the debate in a video he posted online on Sunday, explaining his position.

“For those of you who saw the debate clip from last week, I want to clarify that I do believe Israel has committed genocide in Gaza,” he said. “For many Jews, associating the word genocide with the Jewish state of Israel is deeply painful and frankly traumatic. But despite that pain and that trauma, we all have eyes, and we see the absolute devastation and catastrophic death toll in Gaza inflicted by the Israeli government. And we all have ears, and we hear the genocidal statements by certain senior members of the Israeli government.”

Wiener previously has used phrases like “total destruction,” and “catastrophic levels of death” and “moral stain” to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza. By invoking genocide, he joins progressive members in Congress such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Rebecca Balint of Vermont.

In September 2025, an independent United Nations commission concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Since the conflict escalated on Oct. 7, 2023, nearly 64,000 Palestinians have died, according to the World Health Organization.

Opponents challenging Wiener for Pelosi’s seat criticized his shift in position after the debate, calling the timing suspect.

“At the debate, Scott Wiener refused to call Israel’s indiscriminate killing of women and children in Gaza a genocide,” Julie Edwards, a spokesperson for Chan’s campaign, said in an email. “People getting killed didn’t move him, but boos at a forum did. This is about politics, not principle.”

Chakrabarti, who previously served as chief of staff for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and worked on Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, said the issue is about “moral clarity.”

“Genocide shouldn’t be something you say yes or no to based on the reporter you are talking to or how your poll numbers look,” he posted on X after Wiener’s statement on Sunday. “Thousands of real people have died and continue to die.”

The three candidates in last week’s debate shared similar positions on many issues. They all support Medicare for All, believe San Francisco needs more housing, and want stronger protections for immigrants and LGBTQ people.

But the foreign policy question about Israel and Gaza marked a clear contrast between the candidates and painted Wiener as an outlier.

“He had to take steps on this, otherwise it was going to be an issue that would haunt him,” said Democratic political consultant Jim Ross, who has worked on several San Francisco campaigns. He added that the senator’s response may not draw many new voters toward Wiener, but it could “inoculate” against a potential campaign crisis. “I think it is an issue that probably will stick around, but with less impact, for the next eight months, 10 months.”

Wiener’s decision to go further with his language on Israel has sparked criticism from Jewish groups.

“The diminishment and weaponization of the term ‘genocide’ in this context has been deeply painful for our community, given our own historical experiences with the Holocaust,” reads a joint statement from five Jewish groups, including the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council. “All too often, those harboring antisemitic views have used the war to justify their hatred of our community… Framing this conflict in reductionist and inflammatory terms fuels further hostility toward our community.”

The groups said their statement was not intended to support or oppose any candidate.

Pro-Palestinian advocacy group Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) Action said Wiener’s statement marks a positive step.

“It’s better late than never for any politician, including Scott Wiener, to finally acknowledge what people of conscience and every major human rights organization has said, that the state of Israel is guilty of committing genocide,” said Mohamed Shehk, organizing director for AROC Action.

But Shehk said he hopes to see more tangible expressions of support moving forward, such as Wiener backing legislation in Congress to stop the U.S. from providing weapons to Israel.

“Unfortunately, it’s clear that Wiener only made this acknowledgement when it was politically convenient for him after realizing how unpopular support for Israel’s genocide is in this moment,” Shehk said.

Shehk also pointed to a California bill Wiener sponsored, AB 715, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in October 2025, that aims to combat antisemitism in public schools. But critics such as the California Teachers Association say it also stifles free speech and censors topics around Gaza and Palestinians.

“There must be accountability moving forward for his ongoing legacy of attacking pro-Palestinian activism and speech despite his recent appellation,” Shehk said.

Wiener is now walking a tightrope, trying to appeal to voters and potential constituents with a range of views on a sensitive topic.

“As a Jew, I am deeply aware that the word genocide was created in the wake of the Holocaust, which was the industrial extermination of 6 million Jews,” he said. “To me, the Israeli government has tried to destroy Gaza and to push Palestinians out, and that qualifies as genocide.”