Fifteen Jewish leaders in Maine, including the rabbis of synagogues around the state, issued a rare joint statement calling for politicians not to accuse Israel of genocide for its war in Gaza.

The statement, released Friday by the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, noted that the allegation was “becoming a staple of rhetoric in Maine politics” on the left and argued that it was supercharging antisemitism in Maine.

Troy Jackson, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, has embraced the accusation while calling for an end to U.S. military aid for Israel. Graham Platner, the previous nominee, had made harsh criticism of Israel a theme of his progressive campaign. Every major candidate running to replace him last month said they agreed with the genocide accusation. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for Senate, has eschewed the claim.

The Jewish leaders’ statement, under the title “A Call for Peace and Responsible Rhetoric,” acknowledged the plight of Palestinians in Gaza but argued that it did not meet the standard of genocide, which a Jewish lawyer developed in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

“Compassion for Palestinians does not require the adoption of hateful and misleading language,” the leaders wrote. “Advocating for peace does not require participation in a ‘Holocaust inversion’ against the Jewish community. And political leadership does not require demonizing one community in the service of another.”

Israel’s war in Gaza — a response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel — has killed over 73,000 people in the territory, authorities say. Several human rights groups, including in Israel, have concluded that Israel’s assault amounts to genocide due to its targeting of Palestinian combatants and civilians alike. The Israeli government denies the charge, saying it has sought to destroy Hamas in self-defense.

A national poll released last month found that a third of American adults believe Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza, while nearly the same portion — 30% — of American Jewish adults do. As Democrats wrestle with the issue, which has emerged as a dividing line in primaries across the country, about half of the party’s members in the U.S. House of Representatives voted last month for an amendment to cut off aid money to Israel.

Maine’s small, liberal-leaning Jewish population has experienced a particularly tumultuous political year.

Platner alarmed many Jewish Mainers not only with his stance on Israel — which some preferred to Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ staunch support — but also with his covered tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol. He levied attacks suggesting that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee controlled Collins, which to some Jewish residents echoed an antisemitic trope about Jews’ power. (Platner denied accusations of antisemitism and impressed some Jewish supporters with outreach efforts, including a Passover seder.)

The Jewish leaders’ statement, which did not name any Maine politician, came less than a week after Jackson formally accepted the Democratic nomination to replace Platner.

Asked Monday to respond to the Jewish leaders’ statement, the Jackson campaign provided a statement from adviser BJ McCollister that did not explicitly mention genocide but condemned “a staggering loss of civilian life, mass displacement, the obstruction of food and humanitarian aid, and the destruction of homes, hospitals and entire communities” in Gaza and “Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack.”

Jackson wants “a lasting peace in which Israelis and Palestinians can live in security and dignity,” McCollister added. “He respects that Jewish Mainers hold a range of deeply felt views on this issue, and the campaign will continue meeting with and listening to Jewish leaders across Maine while always standing against growing antisemitism.”

To challenge the genocide accusation, the group of Jewish leaders cited the Israeli government’s support for a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza in 2024. In its only bolded sentence, the statement also pointed to comments by Karim Khan, the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, about why he had not issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders on the charge of genocide.

(In 2024, Khan had applied for arrest warrants against two Israeli leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity such as using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. Khan was removed from his job last month amid sexual misconduct allegations that he denies.)

The signatories to the statement Friday included 11 rabbis: Daniel Alter of Congregation Beth El, a Reform synagogue in Bangor; Erica Asch of Temple Beth El, a Reform synagogue in Augusta; Andy Bachman of Portland; Gary Berenson of the unaffiliated Etz Chaim Synagogue in Portland; Sruli Dresdner of the unaffiliated Temple Shalom Synagogue Center in Auburn; Rachel Isaacs of Beth Israel Congregation, a Conservative synagogue in Waterville; Jared Saks of Congregation Bet Ha’am, a Reform synagogue in South Portland; Bill Siemers of Congregation Beth Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Bangor; Rachel Simmons of Temple Beth El, a Conservative synagogue in Portland; Lorin Troderman of unaffiliated Adas Yoshuron Synagogue in Rockland; and Lisa Vinikoor of Beth Israel Congregation, a Reform synagogue in Bath.

The statement was also signed by Rachael Alfond and Stefanie Levenson, the Jewish Community Alliance’s interim executive directors; Dawn LaRochelle, the executive director of Portland’s Maine Jewish Museum; and Zach Schwartz, who directs the Jewish Community Relations Council, a part of the alliance.