Fetterman: Democrats have an antisemitism problem

The Democratic Party “definitely” has a problem with antisemitism, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said in response to a question from Kasie Hunt, a CNN political correspondent, during an interview on Saturday.

“I mean, the guy that’s gonna win the primary in Maine has a Nazi tattoo on his chest. And that’s no problem for a lot of voters. ... That’s crazy,” Fetterman said. He referred to Maine Democratic senatorial candidate and front-runner Graham Platner, who had a skull and crossbones tattoo resembling the Nazi SS Totenkopf symbol.

Platner said he had the tattoo inked while in Croatia in 2007, when he was in the Marine Corps in his 20s. He had it covered up by another tattoo. He claimed until recently that he didn’t know what it was.

“And now we know he knew what that was,” Fetterman said, referring to reports disputing Platner’s claim, and that he previously referred to his tattoo as his “Totenkopf.”

Fetterman also referenced Platner’s recently surfaced comments from an archived Reddit account praising the military tactics of a 2014 Hamas raid. “Looks like an all around well executed and successful small unit raid to me,” Platner wrote, Fox News reported on April 16.

“I mean, if you’re back over 12-13 years cheering about the death of Israeli soldiers, you clearly have a serious issue. And the left has a serious issue with antisemitism,” Fetterman said.

The Pennsylvania senator, who has become known for his staunch pro-Israel stance, also noted the Democratic embrace of anti-Israel influencer Hasan Piker.

“He absolutely is proud to cheer for Hamas, loves Hamas. Democrats are proud to stand with him and campaign with him,” Fetterman said.

Fetterman referred to Piker’s remarks that “America deserved 9/11,” that Hamas is a “1,000 times better” than Israel, and “It doesn’t matter if rapes happened on October 7th.”

Piker is a 34-year-old son of Turkish immigrants who was born in New Jersey but grew up in Istanbul.

Among the recent guests on his podcast have been Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.); billionaire California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer; Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson; and former Obama administration adviser and occasional New York Times contributor Ben Rhodes.

“We have a serious problem with my party. So if I have to be the last man standing in the Democratic Party, I’m proud to stand with Israel,” Fetterman said.

On Wednesday, all but seven Democratic senators voted to block an arms sale to Israel in the latest sign of waning support for the Jewish state on the Left in the United States.

Senators voted down a pair of motions to discharge the two resolutions that Sen. Sanders introduced in March to block sales of bulldozers and bombs to the Israel Defense Forces, but by significantly narrower margins than in previous votes.

Forty senators, all Democrats, voted to discharge the resolution to block the bulldozer sales, and 36 of them also voted to block the sale of bombs.

Seven Democrats voted against both motions: Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-N.M.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Kirstin Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jackie Rosen (D-Nev.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) split their votes, voting in favor of the motion to block the sale of bulldozers but against the motion to block bomb sales.

Every Republican who voted opposed the motions, defeating the bulldozer resolution 40 to 59 and the bombs resolution 36 to 63.

Previous resolutions from Sanders to block arms sales to Israel were defeated by overwhelming margins.

In April 2025, only 15 senators, all Democrats, voted to block arms sales. In July of that year, 27 Democrats voted to oppose a sale of small arms to the Israeli police, and 24 voted to oppose a sale of bombs.

On Saturday, Fetterman defended Israel’s actions against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran on Fox News.

“Israel’s done what was necessary, you know, to break and destroy Hamas and to break and destroy Hezbollah, absolutely, and also Iran as well,” he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

“If you have a platform and if you want to criticize someone, criticize Iran, criticize Hamas, criticize Hezbollah,” Fetterman said. “They’re one gigantic war crime. They really can’t engage in traditional kinds of warfare. All they can do is just fire off rockets at civilians. ... They can create hostages and torture them underground for two years. That’s all they are.”

America and Israel, in contrast, are a “force for good,” Fetterman said.