What was keeping Scott Weiner from recognizing the genocide in Gaza? Pain, trauma, and, apparently, an opportune moment to play the victim.
It’s been over two years since Israel began conducting genocidal actions in Gaza — a means of ethnic and cultural cleansing recognized by the United Nations in September of last year. Since the ethnostate began occupying the Palestinian territory under the guise of eradicating regional terrorism after the October 7th, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel that left at least 1,129 people dead and another 250 taken hostage, Gaza has effectively been leveled and left lifeless.
Israel and its national military force, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), have, as of publishing, killed 71,000 Palestinians in conflict — not in “combat,” mind you; in “conflict” denoting the vast majority of these deaths involving innocent civilians directly killed in IDF-conducted airstrikes and militarized ground efforts; this number doesn’t include the thousands more who succumbed to starvation and disease as a result of Israel’s inhuman resource and aid blockades and the country’s weaponization of hunger — while also destroying at least 80% of Gaza’s built structures. The evidence of genocide in Gaza, as defined in geopolitical literature, is undeniable, deafening in its cruelty and certainty.
Yet, pro-Zionists have fervently denied such labelings and actions, choosing to bury their heads in the proverbial sand, rather than reckon with how a nation-state founded atop ethnocentrism has justified its annihilation of other regional cultures. It’s a watershed moment many have yet to feel wash over them.
In California, State Senator Scott Weiner, whose senatorial district encompasses the San Francisco Bay area and parts of Daly City and South San Francisco, has remained a staunch supporter of Israel in the aftermath of October 7th, 2023. Weiner, however, has fervently and publicly remained critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But Wiener’s actions and words, and the tone of those two, have suggested otherwise, most notably in his inability to recognize the ongoing genocide in Gaza as such, regardless of the overwhelming evidence that Israel’s actions are in line with ethnic cleansing and genocidal regimes.
This specific talking point came to a head on January 7th during a raucous two-hour debate at UC Law San Francisco. It was the first public debate for candidates vying for Nancy Pelosi’s open House seat in this year’s midterm elections.
Centering himself as the clear moderate, a lightning round of questioning concluded with a simple question: “Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?”
Saikat Chakrabarti and Connie Chan, two far more liberal candidates who have each, in their own right, gained considerable attention and are poised to offer a challenge for Wiener, who was previously considered a shoo-in for the seat. Chan and Chakrabarti flashed up the green “YES” immediately when the question was posed. Wiener, on the other hand, sheepishly twirled his double-sided sign, holding his head down while his Christmas-like carousel of paper oscillated with indecision.
Wiener never gave a straight answer. The pushback, both in that moment from the present crowd and the ensuing fallout from the public, has been loud and left a sizable blight on his campaign.
In what reads and sounds and feels more like damage control than a sincere change of heart, Wiener posted a 90-second video across his social media profiles condemning Netanyahu’s actions and, for the first time, publicly named Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide.
“For years, I’ve condemned Netanyahu and his extremist government and the devastation they’ve inflicted on Gaza,” writes Wiener in a post published on X, containing the short video. “It’s why I’ve been clear I won’t support U.S. funding for the destruction of Palestinian communities. I’ve stopped short of calling it genocide, but I can’t anymore.”
What’s shocking, and conceivably enraging, is how Wiener weilds victimhood as a means to explain his previous choice of words; Wiener cites himself as having adopted phrasing like “catastrophic levels of death” and “total destruction” to both convey his sentiments, all while distancing himself from the use of “genocide.”
Why? It’s “painful and traumatic” for him and, per his assessment, “other Jews” to use the word, never mind the list of notable Jewish figures who’ve had no issues calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide over the past two years.
Wiener’s words amass into a callous, hollow, meaningless apology.
It’s an atonement, too, that produces no sympathy or empathy when one realizes that had the clip of Wiener tip-toeing around labeling Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocidal not gone viral, his penance wouldn’t have materialized over the weekend. It may have never. That’s chilling … and reason enough to flip the metaphical paddle to “NO” when filling out your ballot on November 3rd.
