Rep. Dan Goldman’s “Disgust” at South Africa’s Genocide Case Is Costing Him Votes

A New York City grassroots group that came together in the wake of Israel’s assault on Gaza delivered a letter to Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., on Thursday, condemning their congressional representative for signing onto a majority-Republican effort to discredit South Africa’s lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide. The group, NY-10 Neighbors, also pressed Goldman to use his position in Congress to exert pressure on Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice’s orders to prevent potential and further genocidal acts.

“Despite vehement and overwhelming opposition from your constituents and the alarming and escalating death toll that has now passed 26,000 Palestinians killed, including several thousand children, it is unfathomable that you persist in endorsing the U.S.’s continued support for these atrocities,” reads the letter, which was signed by more than 1,000 of Goldman’s constituents and delivered to his Brooklyn office. “Your decision, once again, to align with a predominantly MAGA-led effort, and to label the ICJ filing as ‘grossly unfounded,’ ‘defamatory,’ and ‘abusing the judicial process,’ especially considering your background as a lawyer championing fundamental principles and the rule of law, is disgraceful.”

The effort in New York City is part of a larger trend of local communities organizing in opposition to U.S. support for Israel. Chicago, for instance, on Wednesday became the largest city to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, making it one of at least 48 cities across the country to pass such a resolution.

One of the founding members of NY-10 Neighbors, Megha Barnabas, told The Intercept that Goldman is falling short of district expectations. “Goldman became known for taking on Trump’s abuse of presidential power and yet now he embraces Biden’s support of Israeli military aggression without any congressional oversight,” she said. “We have come to him for months with our open hearts, with our soulful pleas to protect human life — we get email responses to our inquiries that sound like they were written by a robot.”

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Goldman signed onto a letter last week alongside 209 of his colleagues — a total of 148 Republicans and 62 Democrats — addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressing their “disgust” at South Africa’s suit accusing Israel of genocide. Other Democratic signatories included Reps. Ted Lieu, Adam Schiff, Dean Phillips, Elissa Slotkin, and Ritchie Torres, and Republicans on the letter included Reps. Andy Barr, Max Miller, Elijah Crane, and Elise Stefanik.

The members hailed White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby for calling the case “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without basis in fact whatsoever.” Last Friday, just three days after the lawmakers sent the letter, the ICJ ruled that it is plausible that Israel is carrying out a genocide. 

Goldman was a top recipient of AIPAC money last month, receiving $45,400.

The letter earned the praise of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Goldman himself was a top recipient of AIPAC money last month, receiving $45,400 from the group’s political action committee, according to campaign finance records.

Goldman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

His constituents, in their letter, called on him to publicly retract his signature and said that his refusal to call for a ceasefire is “unconscionable.”

Lynn Vogelstein, whose parents survived the Holocaust, said that Goldman has lost her vote because of his position on the war in Gaza. “I voted for Goldman but will not vote for him again because he has chosen to support a brutal war against civilians with our tax dollars and in the name of US Jews,” she wrote to The Intercept.

Another constituent, a Palestinian–Israeli American who grew up in southern Israel, told The Intercept that he found common ground with Goldman after attending a town hall on December 13 where Goldman recounted the story of his grandmother fleeing pogroms in Russia. The constituent’s grandparents fled to Gaza in 1947, when their village was burnt down, he said, before ultimately relocating to another village. 

“When the border was drawn for the new Israeli state it included that village,” he said. “Had it not, I may well be under the rubble right now.”

As for Goldman’s opposition to a ceasefire, he said, “The blatant disregard to human life I find appalling.”

In November, Goldman was one of 22 Democrats who voted alongside Republicans to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, for allegedly “promoting false narratives” about Hamas’s attack on October 7 and “calling for the destruction of Israel” (Tlaib had repeatedly condemned Hamas and was being attacked for using the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a phrase oft-used by Palestinians as a rallying call for liberation and equality, or by Israeli officials to describe control over Palestine). NY-10 Neighbors sent him a letter shortly afterward, now signed by nearly 1,400 constituents, condemning his vote. 

“The Muslim community — including thousands of Muslim families right here in the district you are supposed to represent — are fearing for their lives as hate crimes soar,” read the letter. “Rep. Tlaib, along with many of your Democratic colleagues who are simply advocating for peace in the Middle East, have received countless death threats. With this censure vote, the far right is intentionally stirring up hatred against a woman of color, trying to turn neighbor against neighbor and Democrat against Democrat. And you joined them. For shame, Congressman Goldman.”

Goldman was first elected to Congress in 2022, spending more than $4,000,000 of his own money to barely prevail in a crowded primary field that included former Rep. Mondaire Jones, state Rep. Yuh-Line Niou, and City Council Member Carlina Rivera. The New York Times controversially endorsed Goldman, the heir of the Levi Strauss fortune, even though he was the only candidate who had not held elected office before and had self-funded his campaign, a practice the Times board had previously frowned upon.