Jewish California Lawmaker Accused Israel of Genocide. Anti-Israel Protesters Still Drove Him Out

California State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Jewish Democrat running to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Congress, said he was forced to leave a San Francisco Pride weekend event Friday after protesters confronted him over Israel and Gaza.

The incident drew national attention because Wiener is not a conservative or a pro-Israel hardliner. He is a progressive Democrat, a prominent LGBTQ lawmaker, and earlier this year accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza. Still, protesters at the San Francisco Trans March treated him as unacceptable over Israel.

Video from Dolores Park showed protesters following Wiener through the crowd and shouting profanities as he walked away. One person filming the confrontation first acknowledged Wiener’s work on LGBTQ issues, then attacked him over Gaza.

“You’ve been wonderful for trans people,” the person said, before telling Wiener he had been “terrible on Gaza” and did not belong there. Another person yelled, “You stopped being queer the moment you started supporting Israel.”

Wiener said in a statement Saturday that the incident went beyond political protest.

“As I walked through Dolores Park to participate in a trans-led Pride Shabbat service in connection with the trans march, a group of people began screaming at me, ran up to me, surrounded me and began harassing me, both verbally and physically, including physical contact,” he said.

He said protesters made comments about his “Israeli handlers,” among other statements he called “inaccurate, extreme and vile.” Wiener said the group was so aggressive that it became impossible for him to safely remain in the park. He added that it was the first time he had missed the march since it began 22 years ago.

The confrontation followed a separate incident earlier in the week at a Mission District bar, where Wiener said a man accosted him while he was watching a World Cup game with staffers. Wiener said the same man had previously stalked him in December 2023 while shouting about his “tainted bloodline.”

In January, after initially declining to answer whether Israel was committing genocide in Gaza during a candidate forum, Wiener posted a video saying he believed Israel had committed genocide. Jewish groups criticized the statement, and Wiener later stepped down from leadership of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus.

That background shaped the reaction from the right. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro wrote that “no one more richly deserves this humiliation than Scott Wiener,” saying Wiener had learned that a person can be “a militant for trans radicalism” and “a full-scale Israel-hater” and still have the hard left “yell at you for being a Jew.”

Philip Klein, editor of National Review Online, also said he had “zero sympathy” for Wiener. “This desperate loser called Israeli actions ‘genocide’ to try and curry favor with the Jew-haters and they still harass him anyway,” Klein wrote. “Good.”

Television personality and political commentator Spencer Pratt mocked Wiener in similar terms. “How does it feel now that the Frankenstein you created is coming for you?” Pratt wrote. “Every stupid communist learns this history lesson the hard way. Enjoy!”

Derek Hunter, a conservative columnist and radio host, wrote that one could “almost feel badly for him,” but added that Wiener was “a monster too, just not one that sides with the terrorists of Gaza.”

Local reporting said Wiener’s campaign received a wave of support after the incident, including its highest number of donors in a single day since launching the congressional bid.