Norm Finkelstein largely backs Hasan Piker's warning that American Jews will face a backlash if they don't break publicly with Israel, but says Piker left out a key fact — and the fight is bad news for the left just as a major election looms.

• Finkelstein calls it obvious that if Israel claims to act in the name of all Jews, and Jewish groups embrace that, outsiders will blame Jews everywhere — the same way Americans were blamed for Vietnam and Germans still carry World War II.
• What Piker missed: polls now show 30 to 40% of American Jews say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and Jewish groups led some of the earliest big protests.
• The timing matters politically — Finkelstein warns careless words could damage Abdul El-Sayed's election, and says anyone with a big audience has to weigh what they say.
• He argues the words "Zionism" and "occupation" should be dropped as too vague or simply wrong: it is one state, permanently annexed, built on Jewish supremacy.
• He also says calling Gaza a "war" hands Israel most of the propaganda fight before it starts.

Outlook: Expect the attacks on Piker to keep coming from both the right and liberal Democrats, with the El-Sayed race the immediate battleground.