Leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong posted Iranian Regime talking points without verifiying whether they were true.
Wisconsin State Representative Francesca Hong, a candidate for governor and member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), simply regurgitated Iranian Regime talking points designed to denigrate the American and Israeli air strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and many of his top advisers.
Hong posted on X Saturday, “This morning, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes killed at least 80 girls at an elementary school in southern Iran. Trump and Netanyahu will call this an acceptable cost of war. We refuse to accept it.”
The claim attributed the incident to U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. Subsequent reports indicated the deaths resulted from a failed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) rocket that fell on the school in Minab, located near IRGC military bases.
Hong’s thread continued with statements criticizing the strikes as an “illegal war,” linking them to misplaced priorities favoring military spending over domestic needs like healthcare and education, and calling for accountability for leaders choosing “bombs over diplomacy.” No independent verification of the airstrike claim was referenced in the post.
Hong is a member of the DSA, which released a statement on the same day titled “DSA Stands against Imperialist War and with the Iranian People.” The statement condemned the “unprovoked US-Israeli aggression” against Iran, described it as a violation of sovereignty, opposed regime change and foreign intervention, and demanded an end to hostilities, withdrawal of U.S. military assets, cessation of sanctions, and a return to diplomacy. It framed national sovereignty as a precondition for working-class liberation and called for mass mobilizations against the attacks.
The DSA has previously affirmed Iran’s right to self-defense in response to Israeli actions, such as in an April 2024 statement regarding a strike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus. The organization’s positions consistently oppose U.S. and Israeli military actions in the region while emphasizing anti-imperialism.
The tweet received significant engagement, with over 1,600 likes and hundreds of replies, many challenging the accuracy of the reported cause of the school incident.
