In an early general election-phase gift to Republicans, incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio was reportedly caught on video saying he "frankly" doesn't "trust" the government of Israel to abide by a ceasefire any more than he does the Hamas terrorists seeking to eliminate the Jewish state.
According to a Columbus, Ohio, TikTok user who says he was among a group of influencers invited to meet with Senator Brown over the weekend, the summit was supposedly about the legislation regulating the viral video app under consideration by Congress. But, according to the TikToker, Justin Jordan, it was more of an attempt to push Brown's re-election bid in the race considered key to determining the balance of power in Washington beginning in 2025. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) even joined the meeting to hype up Brown and his record.
After some pre-approved questions were answered by Brown and Booker, according to Jordan's retelling, he decided to ask one of his own as the event was ending. "Do you support a ceasefire in Gaza?” Jordan asked while recording with his phone.
"I would answer that question for weeks, 'no,' only because I don't trust that either Hamas or frankly Netanyahu would live up to that ceasefire," Brown said in his off-camera answer.
After capturing Brown's answer, Jordan said in a TikTok recapping the meeting that a staffer for the senator asked Jordan to delete the video and at one point asked for Jordan to "Give me your phone," two requests with which Jordan did not comply.
Townhall reached out to Brown's re-election campaign via the email listed on its website but received no response to our inquiry about why the senator views Israel's government and the terrorist leadership of Hamas as being equivalent nor reasons to explain why he does not trust Israel to abide by its word.
Even without a response to Townhall's inquiry, the reactions from Brown's aides once they realized his comments had been recorded seem to speak for themselves.
Brown faces a significant challenge to his re-election from businessman Bernie Moreno, the Republican candidate who swept every county in the state to clinch the GOP nomination on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Moreno's campaign told Townhall that "Sherrod Brown sides with Hamas over Israel every single time."
"While innocent Israelis are brutally murdered, raped, and mutilated by Hamas terrorists, Sherrod Brown kowtows to anti-Israel groups like CAIR and echoes far-left, antisemitic activists calling for a 'ceasefire now,'" Moreno's campaign emphasized. "Bernie is proud to always stand with Israel and it is shameful that Sherrod Brown won't."
The U.S. Senate race in Ohio this November is one of the key races for Republicans looking to topple incumbent Democrats and re-take a majority in the upper chamber. Leading the charge supporting GOP candidates is the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) led by Sen. Steve Daines of Montana.
"Behind closed doors, Sherrod Brown is an anti-Israel radical who’s all too happy to fall in line behind Chuck Schumer as he undermines one of our closest allies abroad," Philip Letsou, a spokesman for the NRSC, told Townhall. "Ohioans can’t trust Sherrod Brown to stand up to far-left Democrat extremism."
Again making his inexplicable position on Israel abundantly clear, Brown was among a group of Democrat senators who signed onto a letter this week demanding that President Joe Biden "publicly outline a path for the United States to recognize a nonmilitarized Palestinian state" that is "to be governed by a revitalized and reformed Palestinian Authority."
The lunacy of such an idea — how does one "reform" an entity led for decades by a Holocaust denier and well-known for its "pay-for-slay" system that forks cash over to the families of bloodthirsty terrorists killed in attacks on innocent Israelis? — should be roundly mocked.
What's more, as the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) has noted of the PA, the "governing" body is "PA is not a democratic representative of Palestinians," "widely unpopular among Palestinians," "is rife with corruption," and "has rejected multiple peace offers."
But if, as Brown said in the video captured by the TikToker, he doesn't trust Israel any more than Hamas, of course he doesn't see an issue with foolishly trusting and recognizing a supposedly "reformed" PA.