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A leftist Wisconsin lawmaker running for governor has taken it on herself to apologize for previously calling the cops on an anti-Israel protest that her constituents said was antisemitic.
Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong, who has been a vocal proponent of the “Defund the Police” movement, twice called 911 in late 2023 to report a display featuring an Israeli flag splattered with red paint.
Her statement appears to be the latest sop to the virulent anti-Israel voices among the Democratic Socialist base.
Wisconsin Rep. Francesca Hong (left) voiced remorse for calling the police over a protest art display she believed to be antisemitic but was actually in opposition to the war in Gaza. Instagram/@francescahongwiHong has spent the last two years letting her anti-Israel flag fly — including by palling around with radical leftist streamer Hasan Piker, who frequently espouses extreme rhetoric denouncing the Jewish state.
Her apology tour also included introducing a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, and a bill to repeal a law barring state and local governments from participating in Israel boycotts.
During the 2024 election season, Hong was one of several elected officials who attempted to tank former President Joe Biden’s primary election in the swing state as retaliation for his response to the war in Gaza by encouraging nearly 50,000 voters to vote “uninstructed.”
The 37-year-old also vehemently opposed a bill signed into law in March establishing a definition of “antisemitism” adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2016 which is used to determine whether acts of violence or other crimes were motivated by antisemitism.
Hong represents a wealthy, very white district of Madison — Wisconsin’s capital and largest college town.
“Three years ago, there was a piece of protest art at the encampments in Madison, which was photographed and posted to social media. My constituents reported they felt threatened and alerted me to the social post, but the image was cropped and incomplete to misrepresent anti-Zionism as antisemitism – a distinction I take seriously,” she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“Based on their concerns for their safety and my incomplete information, I did something I regret deeply: I called the police and asked them to look into it. This turned out to be a mistake because the image posted to social media was intentionally misleading,” she conceded.
“I believe in free speech. I support a free Palestine. The genocide in Gaza and the colonization of the West Bank must end.”
The display was actually created by activist Jesse Ransom as a call-to-action protest urging Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) to call for a ceasefire after Israel declared war on Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks.
The first iteration of Ransom’s protest display featured his bicycle painted with “CEASEFIRE” and a phone number to contact Baldwin, along with a sign reading “cease-fire now.”
In her first call to police, Hong said she was “trying to figure out what the fastest way to take it down is because I’m not at the location,” the outlet wrote.
The dispatcher reportedly told her an officer would look into it but said “I don’t know legally if officers can force somebody to take this down.”
Hong said she received numerous complaints from constituents about the “pretty disturbing and jarring” display, which police later removed.On her second call, Hong reportedly described the protest display as “pretty disturbing and jarring,” and claimed she had received numerous phone calls from alarmed constituents.
An hour-and-a-half later, police removed the display, prompting Ransom to file a complaint alleging they unlawfully seized his private property and infringed on his First Amendment rights.
He later confronted Hong about the incident at a public campaign event, and then called for the Assemblywoman to publicly apologize and resign in a letter to the Journal Sentinel.
Hong claimed she didn’t know about the “cease-fire now” sign included in the display, and said the campaign staff member who sent her the photo of the installation was “deeply upset” about it.
When Ransom explained to Hong that it was a protest encouraging people to voice their displeasure to Sen. Baldwin, Hong said “I regret calling the police. I regret having that taken down.”
English (US)