San Francisco Democrats can’t trust Scott Wiener — and here’s why

Scott Wiener will do anything to advance his political career — including turning his back on his supposedly long-held beliefs.

Wiener, a Democratic State Senator from San Francisco, has long been on the far left of his party, on every issue — except Israel.

Elected in 2016, Wiener has spent much of his time pushing an extreme LGBTQ agenda. He has taken radical positions on other social issues, as well: He spent the last four years attempting to decriminalize psychedelic drugs, for example.

But Wiener had — until recently — refused to follow the far left into bashing Israel, the only country in the Middle East where LGBTQ people enjoy equal rights.

That’s partly because Wiener, who was raised in New Jersey and attended Harvard Law School, grew up in the 1970s in a Jewish home. He was ingrained in Jewish values, including a commitment to Israel.

Throughout his career, Wiener had adopted a liberal yet pro-Israel policy, embracing the two-state solution and coexistence. “I care deeply about Israel as the home of one half of all Jews on the planet,” Wiener has said. “And I want to recognize the basic humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians living there in peaceful co-existence.”

That changed in recent weeks. Wiener is now running in a crowded field to replace retiring former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th District, which covers most of San Francisco.

Under pressure from the Israel-hating far left, Wiener has decided to flip-flop on the Jewish state and its right to defend itself from radical Islamic terror.

The switch has been dramatic.

In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7, when Wiener was comfortable in his state Senate seat and not yet running for Congress, his words were clear. “The tragedy — and the vile atrocities by Hamas that led to it — is so immense it’s almost incomprehensible,” he said. “My heart is broken, and I am angry. I am also angry that some in our country — and in San Francisco — have celebrated Hamas’s atrocities as an act of ‘resistance.’” 

Wiener condemned Hamas, and agreed that Israel had a right to defend itself. He wrote on his website: “Israel has every right to secure its borders, and I fully support Israel protecting itself against threats from Hamas. Hamas must be entirely eliminated as a political and military force.”

But the passions of two years ago have dissolved entirely in Wiener’s quest to become a member of the House of Representatives. 

On Jan. 7, Wiener participated in a debate with the other two candidates for the office, who are both anti-Israel. In a lightning “yes or no” round, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and former Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez adviser Saikat Chakrabarti responded “yes” when asked if Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

Wiener did not respond to the question, and found himself drawing fire from the left. Realizing what that silence was doing to his campaign, he backpedaled, and posted on his X account that he had changed his mind, and that Israel was committing genocide.

“For years, I’ve condemned [Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his extremist government and the devastation they’ve inflicted on Gaza,” he said. “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.”

That sent shockwaves throughout the Jewish community of the Bay Area. Many organizations condemned his remarks, leading Wiener to announce that he would step down as as co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, effective Feb. 15.

Wiener cast the decision as a long-overdue “transition” made necessary by the fact that his “campaign is accelerating.” In truth, he lost the confidence of the community he had once embraced, and that he had claimed to represent.

It only took Wiener four days to cast aside the personal convictions he had developed as a member of a liberal faith community for all of his 55 years.

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Set aside the substance of the issue, Wiener’s “pivot” was a betrayal that suggests a lack of character. Not only is he unfit for national office, but his willingness to abandon what were once his core values makes him unfit for any public office at all.

Wiener is not trying to win the few conservative and Republican votes in San Francisco.

But the left-wing and liberal Democrats who are his core constituency — including the LGBTQ community — need to ask themselves if they really want a candidate who is willing to change his opinion based on whatever is politically convenient for him.

Read Article at New York Post