Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for Senate in the state of Maine who is known for his anti-Israel views, on Monday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes, JNS reported.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is an international fugitive," Platner stated. “He is charged with the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts."
The comments come a week after Platner won the Democratic nomination in Maine’s Senate primary, setting up a high-stakes general election matchup against longtime incumbent Republican US Senator Susan Collins.
Platner's campaign relied heavily on aggressive rhetoric targeting Israel and its American supporters, transforming attacks on the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC into a central pillar of his primary strategy.
He further inflamed the debate by publicly branding Israel’s counter-terrorism operations in Gaza as a genocide.
Beyond his virulent anti-Israel platform, Platner has come under fire following the revelation that he spent nearly two decades with a Nazi Totenkopf symbol tattooed on his chest.
Platner addressed the fascist imagery last October, admitting to having the tattoo for roughly 20 years. He rejected any personal alignment with Nazi ideology, asserting that he received the body art while "inebriated" as a young adult and without understanding its historical context. At the time, he did not explain why the symbol remained on his body for so long.
He subsequently altered the marking, stating that he ultimately decided to overlay the Nazi symbol with an entirely new design. Platner defended the decision by claiming that while his initial goal was total surgical removal, he opted for a cover-up design due to a scarcity of advanced tattoo removal facilities near his residence in rural Maine.
Responding to Platner’s latest criticism of Israel, Yaakov Kaplan, a member of Brooklyn Community Board 12, said, “The man with a Nazi tattoo is lecturing on war crimes."