Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein proclaimed “opposing genocide is a Jewish value,” in front of Columbia University in a confrontation she labeled as “confronting Zionists” on her X account, formerly Twitter.
In the video, a man wearing a kippah can be seen speaking behind her. After she tells him that opposing genocide is a Jewish value, he can be heard saying, “Israel is the only homeland of the Jewish people.” She then responds, “The Jewish people have Poland.”
She then invokes her Jewish identity and says she’s a “descendent of refugees.” He then points at her and says “You’re the minority, you’re the one percent,” referring to the number of Jewish anti-zionists.
She proceeds to tell the viewers of the video that he is mandating genocide.
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) April 25, 2024
Dr. Stein has made “stopping the genocide in Gaza” a primary focus of her presidential campaign, with a petition calling on Joe Biden to do so on the front page of her website.
Throughout her X account, she repeatedly makes statements in support of anti-Israel encampments throughout American universities. She has called the crackdown on these protests by police an injustice and a violation of the amendment rights to free speech and freedom of protest.
Canary in the "mine shaft"
In the video, she says, “As Gaza goes, we all go,” calling Gazans “the canary in the mine shaft,” arguing “what happens in Gaza can happen and will happen anywhere.” This is a phrase that is usually used in reference to antisemitic attacks against Jewish people.
She concludes in the video clip, “We must stand up and support international law, we must support human rights, and we must support the rights of the Palestinian people to freedom, justice, and dignity.”
Dr. Stein ran for president on the Green Party ticket both in 2012 and 2016. In those races, she supported the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and supported halting all military aid to Israel from the United States. In 2016, Dr. Stein gained about 1.4 million votes, however, in 2012, she only gained 470,000.
In a 2012 interview in Forbes, Dr. Stein described herself as culturally Jewish, saying that she is not a practicing Jew. She originally grew up in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park in the 1950s, where she and her family attended a reform synagogue.