I haven't seen the ad.
@grok.
It shows a couple in a grocery store putting eggs or bananas back because “we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians,” blaming U.S. aid to Israel for high American grocery prices and other costs. It closes by framing Republican Mike Rogers as prioritizing “they/them” (shown with images of Israeli leaders including Netanyahu) while El-Sayed is “for you.”
Why critics, including Haley Stevens and the ADL, call it antisemitic
Scapegoating Israel/Jews for domestic economic problems: Critics say it takes real issues (inflation, grocery costs) and pins them on the Jewish state and U.S. support for it. This echoes a longstanding antisemitic pattern of blaming Jews or Jewish institutions for societal ills. The Anti-Defamation League’s Jonathan Greenblatt explicitly called the ad “a case study in antisemitism.”
Classic tropes: Jewish and pro-Israel voices (rabbis, Stevens, Stevens’ fiancé Jason Turkish, and others) argue it plays on the idea that American families suffer because money is being funneled to Jews/Israelis for violence. Stevens stated that Democrats should not claim “the cost of groceries is because of Jews and the Jewish state” and that the ad “did not invent its argument” but dramatized points El-Sayed has made about aid to Israel crowding out domestic priorities like schools, health care, and child care.
