Jamaal Bowman (D, NY) speaks to the crowd while he campaigns in Bronx, New York, on June 22, 2024. (Photo by Reuters)
New York, June 27 (RHC)-- Pro-Israel lobbies have ousted an outspoken critic of the occupying Israeli regime in U.S. Democratic primary in suburban New York in yet another indication of support for the illegal entity in its months-long devastating war on Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
American media reports said that congressman Jamaal Bowman lost a primary challenge to his Democratic rival, George Latimer, who had entered the race at the urging of local Jewish leaders over Bowman’s vocal criticism of Israel and its genocidal war in Gaza.
With nearly all of the votes counted, Latimer had won nearly 56% of the vote, compared with 44% for Bowman.
“This movement has always been about justice. It has always been about humanity. It has always been about equality,” Bowman, who had been seeking a third term, said at his election party in Yonkers, conceding that he lost the race but remaining unapologetic about his opposition to the war in Gaza.
Various groups spent $24.8 million in the race, making it the most expensive House of Representatives primary in history.
Latimer, who enjoyed heavy financial backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States, is a former state legislator who has served as Westchester County executive since 2018. He portrayed himself as a steadfast defender of Israel and labeled the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas as a “terrorist” organization that cannot be negotiated with.
Backed by an avalanche of spending by AIPAC and pro-Israel groups, the 70-year-old prevailed over Bowman in the Democratic Party primary for the 16th Congressional District of New York, with supporters of the Israeli regime and its barbaric onslaught on Gaza celebrating the development and hoping that it has a chilling effect that extends far beyond the district.
The latest move comes as AIPAC has been involved in an all-out campaign to remove the most progressive Black members of Congress who have expressed any criticism of Israel.
Media reports said AIPAC spent $14.5 million on the race in just one month, which works out to about $17,000 an hour.
“Never before in the history of U.S. politics has so much money been spent in a single Congressional election,” the reports said. “Getting Bowman out of Congress was a top priority for the right wing, both because of his criticism of Israel and because of across-the-board opposition to his policies on economic inequality and racial justice.”
AIPAC’s list of top targets for 2024 also reportedly included Pennsylvania Representative Summer Lee, who prevailed over her opponent in April, and Missouri Representative Cori Bush, who faces a tough election in August.
Other progressive Congress members have previously been reproached for their vocal criticism of Washington's untrammeled support to Tel Aviv.
U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar unveiled a resolution to block a $320 million arms sale to Israel in November last year and said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right cabinet “continue to commit war crimes in their siege of the Gaza Strip."
