Janeese Lewis George, the Ward 4 D.C. Council member and democratic socialist running for mayor, has sought to reassure Jewish leaders that she would continue to be an ally after she pledged in a questionnaire not to attend events “promoting Zionism.”
In a written response to a fall questionnaire from the Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Lewis George said she would “not attend events focused on obfuscating the realities of occupation or promoting Zionism and apartheid.” The organization later endorsed Lewis George.
Lewis George, a Democrat, met March 19 with rabbis and other Jewish community leaders — as first reported by Jewish Insider — to hear their concerns after the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington recently expressed alarm about the DSA’s questionnaire.
For many Jewish organizations and synagogues, Zionism is the core tenet of their belief in the right of Jewish people to have a homeland and state, said David Wolkenfeld, rabbi at Ohev Sholom Congregation in Shepherd Park, whose congregation hosted the meeting. The pledge to the DSA, he explained, can leave the impression that Lewis George or other candidates would be “refusing to partner with most of the mainstream Jewish organizations in D.C.”
Amanda Gomez, Lewis George’s campaign spokeswoman, and campaign manager Adam Yalowitz, said Lewis George stands by the questionnaire response about Israel and Palestine — which the campaign said she reviewed — as well as her stance that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israel has rejected such findings by a United Nations commission and others.
But Gomez added that Lewis George “felt horrible” that some in the Jewish community feared they may not be welcome in her movement and wanted to convey that was not the case.
The meeting at times grew emotional, according to multiple attendees, as Jewish leaders described anxieties about physical safety during a time of rising antisemitism. Attendees said that the candidate was apologetic about the hurt the survey response may have caused, and that Lewis George, who has a young son, grew emotional when a leader brought up the attack on a Michigan synagogue when preschoolers were present.
“I think she filled it out without awareness of what her answers would mean for the D.C. Jewish community,” Wolkenfeld said. “And I think that’s part of what she wanted to clarify — that regardless of her connection to DSA, she committed to continuing to meet with her Jewish constituents, regardless of the positions that the various Jewish organizations here in D.C. take on issues around Israel and Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The campaign did not make Lewis George available for an interview. She said in a statement: “I stand firm in my commitment against antisemitism, understanding the very real fear for Jewish safety. And I stand firm in my support for Palestinian rights, recognizing what happened in Gaza is a genocide as has been determined by multiple international human rights groups. Those two things are not in conflict.”
She added, “I will not be a mayor who includes or excludes you based on your opinions or feelings on matters here and across the world.”
The situation for Lewis George underscored what could be a difficult balance to strike in her mayoral campaign as she seeks to make a big-tent appeal to Democratic voters while aligning herself with a democratic socialist platform that can be divisive within the Democratic Party.
The DSA’s questions on the Israel-Gaza war is one such area, especially in the city’s politically diverse Jewish community — much of which is grounded in Lewis George’s home ward in the city’s northwest corner.
Nationally, Democrats have shifted their sympathies away from Israel in recent years — with more than two-thirds now saying their concerns lie more with Palestinians in the conflict, a recent Gallup poll found. In the New York mayoral race last year, Zohran Mamdani won without softening his pro-Palestinian views, even after his opponent Andrew M. Cuomo went after him on the issue.
Two of Lewis George’s opponents, Gary Goodweather and former council member Kenyan R. McDuffie, criticized her responses on the DSA questionnaire. McDuffie wrote in a fundraising email that “there is no place in this city for shutting out any community.” Asked to explain his position on the Israel-Palestine conflict, McDuffie said he was focused on other issues and not foreign policy.
The DSA takes a hard line in opposing the Israeli government, describing its actions in Gaza as genocide against Palestinians and requiring candidates to share their “anti-Zionist” beliefs, which it describes as against apartheid and the oppression of Palestinians, to secure an endorsement.
“Our position is relatively straightforward: anti-Zionism is not antisemitism,” said Kurtis Hagans, chair of the Metro D.C. DSA chapter, which is knocking doors and organizing in support of Lewis George. “Criticism of Zionist institutions or politics is not exclusion of Jewish people from public life. Our questionnaire itself is not a directive to avoid Jewish residents, synagogues, schools or cultural institutions.”
The DSA candidate questionnaire in November asked whether candidates would pledge to avoid affiliating with the Israeli government, Zionist lobby groups, think tanks that “obscure the reality of the occupation,” political junkets to Israel and any event “whose content or purpose contravenes DSA’s stated platform and positions on anti-Zionism, apartheid, occupation, or [boycott divestment and sanctions].”
Lewis George responded: “I will refrain from going on any political junkets to Israel. I will also not attend events focused on obfuscating the realities of occupation or promoting Zionism and apartheid.”
But she also went on to say that as an elected official, she would have to meet with people and organizations who do not share all her values. She cited a December breakfast she attended hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, an organization she disagreed with on a number of issues.
The controversy over Lewis George’s response erupted last month after Ron Halber, chief executive of the JCRC, condemned the DSA questionnaire as “revolting” and an “anti-Jewish loyalty oath” that would ostracize the vast majority of synagogues and Jewish people who identify as Zionist.
Halber said in an interview that the JCRC has had a “fine” relationship with Lewis George during her time on the council, that their door was open to her and vice versa, and that she has condemned antisemitism. But Halber said the questionnaire “set off a lot of alarms.”
“I would say there’s a lot of concern about whether an administration of hers would be sensitive to the Jewish community or not — there’s tremendous amount of concern in the Jewish community that her opinions are extremist,” Halber said.
Halber said he wanted any candidate endorsed by the DSA to disavow its support. That would be unlikely for Lewis George, who appeared at a Metro D.C. DSA rally on Wednesday night alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) and said she was a proud democratic socialist who would “never apologize” for being part of its movement.
Other Jewish leaders in liberal circles and who know Lewis George well said they had no reason for concern.
Council member Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1), who has endorsed Lewis George, said she spoke with her friend and colleague about why the questionnaire may cause concern. As a Jewish person who believes there should be a Jewish homeland and state, she said she can sometimes feel excluded from progressive spaces that are anti-Zionist. “I’m not always welcome because of my views on Israel, when I might agree on everything else,” she said.
Nadeau said some have asked how she reconciles strong support for Lewis George with the candidate’s DSA connections. Nadeau said it was never difficult for her, adding she has witnessed Lewis George’s support for the Jewish community, including supporting boosted funding for institutions after antisemitic violence.
“What Janeese has really worked hard to demonstrate and express is that she will be with the Jews in their time of need, and she will work hard for our community,” Nadeau said.
Yael Shafritz, director of the Jews United for Justice Campaign Fund, which endorsed Lewis George, also attended the recent meeting. Shafritz said they have witnessed Lewis George “take the Jewish community’s concerns really seriously,” noting she called rabbis in Ward 4 to offer support after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and has frequently taken up causes important to Jewish schools and families such as affordable child care.
Wolkenfeld, the rabbi from Shepherd Park, said he left the meeting feeling he and others were heard.
Still, he noted: “I think her statements and actions in the coming weeks will either reassure me or give me cause for great concern. And I think there’s a lot of time left in the campaign for her to demonstrate the degree to which she both heard what we shared at that meeting and is willing to shift course in response to what she heard.”
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