Josh Weil Loses His Race for a Florida Seat in Congress

Josh Weil has just lost his race as the Democratic candidate running to represent Florida’s 6th Congressional District. He lost to Republican Randy Fine by a wide margin; 57% for Fine and 43% for Weil. Two years ago, Weil had tried to run in the Democratic primary for the Senate, but withdrew before qualifying. More about Weil that appeared on social media just before the election can be found here: “Democratic Candidate in Florida Special Election Has History of Anti-Israel Comments,” by Corey Walker, Algemeiner, March 31, 2025:

Josh Weil, the Democratic candidate in the special election to represent Florida’s 6th Congressional District in the US Congress, has a history of anti-Israel comments, potentially raising alarm bells among allies of the Jewish state in Florida.

Weil, a schoolteacher based in Orlando, was tapped by the Florida Democratic Party to compete in the special election to represent the district, whose congressional seat was vacated by Republican Mike Waltz after US President Donald Trump selected him to serve as White House national security adviser. Weil’s ascendance to the Democratic ticket has drawn fresh scrutiny toward his views on Israel.

Weil has publicly condemned Israel and vowed to oppose efforts to provide the Jewish state with US aid if elected to Congress. In 2021, during a failed run for US Senate, Weil slammed “Israel’s state sanctioned violence against Palestinians.” He also called for then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to” immediately intervene to stop Jerusalem expulsions” and to “end US military aid to Israel.”

That same year, Weil accused Israel of committing a “war crime” for forcing “Palestinians from their homes to make room for Israeli settlers” in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

What Weil is referring to is not any “war crime,” but instead, a series of landlord-tenant disputes. Arab tenants living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem had not been paying their rent to Jewish owners of property for a long time. Finally, the courts issued orders for the Arab squatters to be evicted. That is not a “war crime,” nor any other kind of crime. In the U.S., 2.7 million renters are threatened with eviction each year. Those whom Weil calls “Israeli settlers” were residents not of Judea and Samaria — whose inhabitants are sometimes called “settlers” by an unsympathetic media — but of Jerusalem.

“There is no justification for this abhorrent assault on human rights,” he wrote.

In 2021, the Sheikh Jarrah area of Jerusalem was embroiled in a battle between landlords, squatters, and delinquent renters from a number of houses with tenants whose leases had expired. The landlords engaged in a drawn-out legal battle to successfully evict the squatters and delinquent renters. Critics argued that the evictions were an example of anti-Arab discrimination and that Israel should force the landlords to keep the squatters and delinquent renters in place.

In 2022, Weil posted on X/Twitter that Israelis “murder children in their homes.”

What can Weil have been talking about? The IDF fires on terrorists who routinely hide, with their weapons, in civilian buildings in both Gaza and in Judea and Samaria. The IDF cannot be expected to hold its fire because some civilians may be in the vicinity, but it tries whenever possible to warn Palestinian civilians away from sites and buildings about to be targeted. The tremendous efforts made by the IDF to warn civilians away from danger, with leaflets, text messages, and robocalls, undermine Weil’s grotesque claim that Israelis “murder children in their homes.” The word “murder” implies intent, and there is no intent by the IDF to kill children. Hamas, however, is quite content to see children in Gaza die; their deaths then become grist for Hamas’ propaganda mill.

In February, Weil appeared on a YouTube show hosted by Jen Perelman, a staunch anti-Zionist. Perelman, a Florida native, has challenged Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) for her congressional seat, condemning the congresswoman for supporting the Jewish state and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Perelman has accused Israel of “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and called for an end to all US aid to the Jewish state….

Perelman and Weil, who see eye to eye on the “genocide” they claim is being committed by Israel, got along swimmingly on Perelman’s YouTube show.

Here are some other things about Josh Weil that some voters knew, and might have caused even some Democrats to support his opponent. Josh Weil married a Muslim woman, and has himself converted to Islam, the faith that tells its believers that they are “the best of peoples” and non-Muslims “the most vile of created beings.” He is not only a convert (or as the Muslims would claim, a “revert” to Islam), but since 2012 has served as the Outreach Coordinator for the Islamic Center of Orlando.

In 2010, Weil married a Muslim woman from New York. They met when he offered to help her find Muslim communities in Central Florida where she might settle.

He was apparently smitten with her, and with her faith: “And the more time we spent there [at the Islamic Center of Orlando], the better relationship, the deeper relationship I got, I got a deep appreciation for the beauty of Islam and the message of the Quran,” he said. He declared his belief that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is God’s messenger the following year. “It [his new faith] gave me opportunities to be of service in the community doing tremendous outreach with the Islamic Center of Orlando.”

So that’s the man who outspent his opponent Randy Fine 10-1, yet still managed to lose by a wide margin. Given how badly he lost despite the vast amounts of money, more than $10 million, that arrived in small donations averaging $29 apiece, sent from all over the country into fund his campaign — do you wonder who sent money to this aggressively Muslim candidate? — I suspect he may be down for the count. We can all breathe more easily today, now that Josh Weil, with his “deep appreciation for the beauty of Islam and the message of the Quran,” has been rejected by voters yet again.