Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who are running against each other for the congressional seat in New York’s 10th Congressional district, sparred on the debate stage Monday, touching on issues of great importance to the United States of America: who received funding from AIPAC and whether to call Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.

Both candidates are self-styled progressive Democrats and liberal Zionists, but both also starkly diverge in their views on Israel. Lander accused Goldman of receiving funding from AIPAC, which he has. Lander calls Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide; Goldman rejects that label. Lander denounced Goldman for voting to sell arms to Israel; Goldman doesn’t see a problem with that.

Earlier this week, Lander appeared alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, saying to cheers and applause that, “As a proud Jewish New Yorker, I will join you in that fight to end occupation and apartheid and genocide.”

As he went on to denounce Israel’s supposed genocide, Mamdani nodded along.

Critics of Lander have called him a “tokenized Jew,” lending cover to anti-Israel Jew haters by virtue of his Jewishness.

At the debate, Goldman refused to characterize Israel’s conduct as genocide in response to a challenge from Lander.

“We should focus less on terminology which has very specific legal meanings,” he said.

“Legal terminology is very complicated and somewhat beside the point,” he added. “We need to surge aid to Palestinians to give them the ability to rebuild. I am focused now on a ceasefire agreement, which would give the Palestinians the state they deserve and self-determination. That’s what we should all be focused on.”

“That is pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, which I am both,” he said.

An Emerson College poll from May shows Lander leading Goldman by 34 percentage points, but it’s unclear if that advantage still holds.