A Long Island congressional hopeful is facing scrutiny over social media activity critics say promotes offensive and antisemitic content.
Lukas Ventouras, a Suffolk County Democrat running for Congress, has repeatedly “liked” posts from Slums of the Hamptons, a roughly year-old Instagram account known for provocative material that ridicules Jewish concerns about rising antisemitism, targets Jewish public figures and mocks the Israeli Defense Forces.
Ventouras, a 25-year-old NYU graduate, is competing against 36-year-old Chris Gallant in the June 23 Democratic primary. The winner will seek to represent New York’s First District, a seat covering parts of northern Suffolk County and the entirety of Long Island’s affluent East End, home to tens of thousands of Jewish residents.
In May, Ventouras responded with a laughing emoji to a Slums of the Hamptons post that suggested Jerry Seinfeld flosses with human organs from Palestinians, according to a review of his social media. Some locals said the interaction was deeply upsetting.
“It felt like he really identified with his horribly antisemitic post,” one Hamptonite told The Post. “It tells me that he endorses this antisemitic blood libel.”
Ventouras, who is also a law school student, drew additional criticism after saying during a debate last month that Israel was built on “land stolen from Palestinians.” His official campaign account has also “liked” crude posts about Jews and material critics say relies on antisemitic tropes.
His official account also “liked” an April 10 post aimed at local “establishment dems,” in which the account suggested they were considering “rolling over and dying.”
The post, directed at Suffolk County Democrats, carried the caption: “Suburban Dems appear to support war, Epstein class, billionaires, for-profit health care, Israel. What are they against?”
Outraged Hamptonites blasted the insensitivity.
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“As a Jewish resident of the Hamptons, I condemn the horrible antisemitic and ugly manifestation of the anti-Jewish activities of this candidate,” Mitchel Agoos, who’s supporting Republican incumbent Nick LaLota, told The Post.
“I condemn the remarks, behavior and manifestation of antisemitic hate pages like this.”
Ventouras, who has been described as a “first generation American” even though he said in a campaign video that his grandfather escaped Greece’s 1950’s civil war, espoused the “American Dream,” such as becoming an “actor, businessman or basketball player.”
He also blasted the “rapacious middle man” that will crumble from the implementation of universal healthcare.
Ventouras’ official campaign account also “liked” a “The Onion”-esque post about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that featured the satiric headline, “AIPAC money flowing through LI’s corridors of power faster than microplastics through your water faucet: Science report.”
The aspiring Congressman – along with his Democratic rival and military pilot Gallant – also “liked” a conspiratorial post about the so-called “Israeli lobby” and “Islamophobic hate crimes” alleging LaLota and the current Long Island Congressional delegation ignores “Islamophobia” because they’re bought off by Jewish money.
Concerned residents believe Slums of the Hamptons, which is run by Joseph Charles Mollica, endorsed Ventouras after the account repeatedly endorsed the candidate’s campaign.
Mollica told The Post his site is “against all forces of evil,” which he then listed in an expletive-laden, anti-Israel and anti-Trump screed, before claiming: “Jerry Seinfeld is a Zionist pig, f—k him forever.”
Ventouras did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
“If Lukas feels comfortable leaving comments like this for the public to see on these posts, it feels possible that he has other, far worse behavior on the internet from other accounts or on other platforms,” one resident told The Post, adding that if Ventouras is old enough to run for Congress, he’s old enough to take accountability.
