The Issue is Israel

Susan Estrich on Jun 27, 2026

The little girl had to go to the bathroom. They went into the cafe, one of a small chain, and the barista was happy to help. The father, who wasn't really thirsty, bought a cup of coffee anyway and added a tip to thank her.

A few hours later, a picture of the man, apparently taken from the store's surveillance camera, appeared in an Instagram post reportedly written by the shop's owner. The message was vicious.

"We see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn't taste like genocide juice? Or are you still having a hard time telling the difference? "We don't serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers or anyone in between. Too bad we didn't recognize you right away, or we would have turned you away."

The man in question was Dan Goldman, Rep. Dan Goldman, who represents New York's 10th district, which includes other parts of Brooklyn as well as lower Manhattan.

Dan Goldman is locked in a high-profile battle, but not with an old-fashioned non-Jewish adversary. That is not how this fight shakes out at all.

Dan Goldman is Jewish, and so is his primary opponent, Brad Lander. Dan Goldman has traditionally been a defender of Israel. He backs a two-state solution, does not support the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and has voted for no new U.S. military aid to Israel since 2024. But he has opposed banning such aid and says he sees no evidence that Israel has committed genocide. He does not accept direct AIPAC funding in his re-election campaign, though he does accept contributions from individuals funneled from the group's website.

Mr. Lander has said Israel committed genocide after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and has described its treatment of Palestinians as apartheid. He has urged the United States to halt aid to Israel, pledged not to take money from pro-Israel lobbying groups and refused to participate in events like the Israel Day parade. As comptroller, he made the decision not to repurchase State of Israel bonds that had matured.

Goldman is a Levi-Strauss heir and one of the wealthiest members of Congress. He is in a position to self-finance this race. But his future is by no means secure; poll reports put Lander ahead, which is consistent with what has happened to support for Israel, once one of the third rails of politics, but no longer.

Mr. Goldman is reportedly frustrated that so much attention in the race has focused on Israel when issues of affordability matter much more to the voters of the district. Mr. Lander, on the other hand, tells reporters that the reason he got in the race in the first place was Israel, reflecting how out of touch his opponent was with the district.

My mother, were she alive, would vote for Goldman in a minute. My daughter, if she still lived in Brooklyn, might be making calls for Lander. Me, I just wish they weren't pitted against each other. But I recognize that on the numbers, Lander has the winning argument. According to the Pew Research Center, 80% of all Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have a critical view of Israel. It's not that such a critical view is not justified, but where it leads that scares me.

The shop owner -- or someone else -- reportedly took the post down. But it lives on, in all its ugliness, on X. And the divisions which this race highlights are real and painful ones, whoever wins.

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