Arizona State Senator Juan Mendez (D-Tempe) did not respond to a request by The Arizona Sun Times for comment on a photograph showing the legislator attending a meeting of the Arizona branch of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that featured Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), or a second photo depicting Mendez wearing a shawl that seems to feature the modern borders of Israel identified as Palestinian territory. The photos resurfaced on social media following the brutal Hamas attack on Israel that began last week.
The photos were shared by Republican Arizona House candidate Ari Daniel Bradshaw to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. “Arizona can’t tolerate anti-semitic Hamas supporters like [Mendez] any longer,” wrote Bradshaw, who is Jewish. Bradshaw promised to support 2024 Arizona House candidate Caden Darrow, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran against Mendez’s wife, State Representative Athena Salman (D-Tempe), in 2022.
Bradshaw’s graphic, which contains both images, suggests the shawl worn by Mendez (pictured above) is similar to one worn by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Arizona can't tolerate anti-semitic Hamas supporters like @MendezForAZ any longer.
— Ari Daniel Bradshaw (@AriBradshawAZ) October 9, 2023
Mendez must not be re-elected. I am placing my full endorsement and energies in LD8 behind @Darrow4AZ to stop radical Jewish hate in the Arizona Legislature.#DoNotReElect #StopJewishHate pic.twitter.com/hd4sz3KqFM
