\u201cIn the years that have followed, that same hatred has grown on the left,\u201d he said in his statement. \u201cIt is the duty of all good people to fight this virus, and to do so before it is too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Wecht previously made national headlines for his 2020 ruling against an effort to overturn President Joe Biden\u2019s victory in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n \t Through a spokesperson, Wecht declined to be interviewed about his exit from the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n Wecht\u2019s comments come as Democrats wrestle with a range of internal tensions over antisemitism. The party\u2019s candidate in a crucial Maine Senate race is Graham Platner, an oyster farmer who recently covered up a Nazi Totenkopf skull-and-crossbones tattoo, raising alarm among some members of the Jewish community.<\/p>\n There are also widespread concerns over the increasing coziness between some progressive politicians and Hasan Piker, the leftist streamer who has said he favors Hamas over Israel.<\/p>\n \t Wecht is the son of renowned forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who was involved in investigating the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. Wecht\u2019s mother, translator Sigrid Ronsdal, spent the first six years of her life living under Nazi occupation in Norway.<\/p>\n \u201cI know David and his legendary father, Cyril,\u201d Pennsylvania\u2019s Democratic Senator John Fetterman, who has clashed with his party over Israel, tweeted following Wecht\u2019s announcement. \u201cAs I\u2019ve affirmed, I\u2019m not changing my party \u2014 but I fully understand David\u2019s personal choice. The Democratic Party must confront its own rising antisemitism problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Acts of physical violence against Jewish Americans reached record levels in 2025, even as the total number of antisemitic incidents declined, according to an annual report published last week by the Anti-Defamation League<\/a>.<\/p>\n One high-profile attack included the 2025 firebombing<\/a> of the residence of\u00a0 the state\u2019s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro during Passover.<\/p>\n \t Shapiro, who is Jewish, is considered one of the party\u2019s rising stars and was considered for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris\u2019s election ticket in 2024. Shapiro<\/a> later wrote that he was asked by her vetting team if he would apologize for comments criticizing antisemitism at anti-Israel protests on university campuses that had erupted during the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n The number of antisemitic incidents across the US had risen annually from 2021 to 2024 and soared in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, according to the ADL report.<\/p>\n The 2025 total, while down from a year before, is still the third-highest since the ADL began tracking data in 1979, and translates to an average of 17 antisemitic incidents a day across the country.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tA woman stands at a memorial for the victims of a deadly shooting the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, on October 27, 2018. (SMIALOWSKI\/AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/32424-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tGraham Platner, running to be the Democratic candidate for a US Senate seat representing Maine, shows a tattoo on his chest, that was adapted from a skull-and-crossbones design reminiscent of Nazi symbolism, in October 2025. (Screen capture via WGME\/This Afternoon)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP25107474202063-e1744917680568-640x400.jpg\")
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