NY Times quotes, without challenging, Lieberman supporter alleging “growing tolerance of [anti-Semitic faction] in the progressive community”

In a July 27 article, New York Times reporter Jennifer Medina quoted an “informal adviser” to the re-election campaign of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT), who is being challenged for the Democratic nomination by Ned Lamont. Medina wrote:

Some of Mr. Lieberman's supporters say there is a strain of anti-Semitism in the antiwar left that could make Jewish voters uneasy about supporting Mr. Lamont.

“There's a small but vocal pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel and perhaps anti-Semitic faction of the Democratic Party,'' said Dan Gerstein, a former Lieberman aide and informal adviser to the campaign. ”It is a small minority but it is getting bolder, and even worse. There is a growing tolerance of it in the progressive community."

Mr. Lamont has tried to distance itself from the more strident anti-Israel positions of some his supporters. “To me, that has nothing to do with the campaign,” he said. “But we decry it whenever we hear it.”

Medina did not challenge Gerstein's assertion that there is a “growing tolerance” in the “progressive community” of a “perhaps anti-Semitic faction”; she did not quote anyone disputing it, nor did she provide any evidence in support of his claim.