California state Sen. Scott Wiener, the frontrunner in the race for Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat, was confronted by a pro-Palestinian activist inside a busy business in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Video of the encounter, which runs about three minutes and has circulated widely online, shows an unidentified man sharply challenging Wiener after the Democrat advanced to the November general election in California’s 11th Congressional District with 41% of the vote, defeating Pelosi-backed Connie Chan.
In the clip, the man repeatedly calls Wiener a “Zionist” and presses him to say “Free Palestine” while recording the exchange.
“There’s innocent children being killed in Palestine, and you’re gonna come here like it’s good, but you’re pushing that genocidal agenda as a Zionist bro,” the man says during the confrontation.
He then shouts, “Free Palestine,” before demanding, “Say Free Palestine right now on camera, dog. Say it!”
In the clip, Wiener sits awkwardly without responding as the man continues to pepper him with accusations and demands that he say “Free Palestine.”
Wiener previously stopped short of calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide,” but changed course in January after refusing to call out Israel during a debate.
“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,” Wiener said at the time. “To me the Israeli government has tried to destroy Gaza and to push Palestinians out. And that qualifies as genocide.”
Wiener will face off against Chan, a San Francisco supervisor, in the November election. Chan has also called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide.”
