Jewish California congressional candidate says harassment from Gaza agitators went ‘beyond free speech’

California State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, a Jewish Democrat who is running for the congressional seat long held by Nancy Pelosi, said Monday that Gaza activists who surrounded him at the city's Trans March crossed the line from protest into intimidation.

"This went beyond free speech," Wiener told CBS News' Major Garrett on his podcast "The Takeout."

Wiener was confronted Friday in Dolores Park while trying to attend a trans-led Pride Shabbat service before the Trans March, an event he said he had attended every year since its 2004 launch. Video aired by CBS showed activists screaming and cursing at the longtime LGBTQ advocate over Gaza as he walked away.

"You’ve been wonderful for trans people, and you’ve been terrible," one protester said. "You’ve been terrible at Gaza."

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CBS News’ Major Garrett asked Wiener whether the confrontation was protected First Amendment speech or something menacing.

"People will challenge my views. We’ll have conversations. People will sometimes record me. And that’s all fine," Wiener said. "That’s all protected First Amendment speech."

Wiener said Friday's confrontation was different because protesters ran toward him, surrounded him, and made physical contact with him.

"A few of them touched me, and they were, you know, screaming at me while they were doing it and trying to bully me and intimidate me out of the park," Wiener said.

"I decided just to keep walking through and out of the park because if I stayed in the park, I was fearful for my own safety."

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The protesters accused Wiener of being insufficiently critical of Israel. Wiener told Garrett the confrontation included language he viewed as antisemitic.

"They were also lying about my record on Gaza," Wiener said. "They were talking about how I have, quote, unquote, ‘Israeli handlers,’ which is a classic antisemitic trope about Jews having dual loyalty."

"Targeting Jewish elected leaders in ways that you are not targeting non-Jewish elected leaders and saying that they have, quote, unquote, ‘Israeli handlers.’ That is definitely anti-Semitic."

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie condemned the confrontation over the weekend.

"As mayor, I can never accept hate directed at a member of our community," Lurie said. "This language directed at Sen. Wiener yesterday was targeted, hateful and antisemitic."

The California Senate Democratic Caucus and California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus also condemned the "verbal harassment and attacks" against Wiener.

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Wiener defended Israel's existence while criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and opposing U.S. military funding for Israel.

"Israel is home to half of all Jews on Planet Earth. It matters to Jews globally. I want it to exist and to be successful," Wiener said.

Wiener then described the Israeli government as an "abomination" and said he believed its actions in Gaza amounted to genocide.

"I don’t think that we should be funding the Israeli military," Wiener said. "We shouldn’t be funding the destruction of Palestinian communities."

Wiener finished first in the June 2 top-two primary for California’s 11th Congressional District, with 40.7% of the vote. Connie Chan finished second with 29.7%, setting up an all-Democratic November race.

Fox News Digital reached out to Sen. Wiener for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.