The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) will spend $100 million to primary the pro-Hamas members of Congress who are part of The Squad.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) are in AIPAC's crosshairs. Rep. Jamaal "Where's the Fire" Bowman (D-N.Y.) is also being targeted by AIPAC.
AOC is sarcastic about the challenge.
Criticism of the Israeli gov is virtually nonexistent in US politics, but apparently that’s not enough.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 15, 2023
Gotta spend *$100 million* to unseat the few who believe in Palestinian human rights & a ceasefire that most Americans already support.
The acceptable level of dissent is 0. https://t.co/fE4ftkNERq
"Believing in Palestinian human rights" means supporting Hamas. No amount of weasel words or deflection will obfuscate the point that Hamas is using the excuse of "standing up for the Palestinians" to rape, murder, and behead Israelis for the sole reason that they are Jewish.
There, fixed it for you, AOC.
Related: Pending Israel's Approval, Hamas Agrees to Release Dozens of Hostages
Naturally, the champions of progressive politics are frothing at the mouth. They will swear up and down that they reject the anti-Semitic trope that Jews control Congress until they state as a fact that, well, Jews control Congress.
One of the biggest political operations in Washington is gearing up to take down the Squad, the Democratic cohort that has heralded progressive policies from the Green New Deal to tuition-free college, throwing major dollars behind primary challengers they believe can unseat them in their 2024 reelection campaigns.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is expected to spend at least $100 million in the Democratic primaries in an effort to knock out the seven “Squad” members, reported Slate. They include Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, and Summer Lee—all Black and brown members of Congress who have been vocal critics of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Congressmen who take a controversial stand on controversial issues should expect to get primaried. It's silly to think otherwise. There's no deep, dark, Jewish plot to defeat them. AIPAC is doing exactly the same thing that Democrats are doing to controversial Republicans.
AIPAC wants “to make the statement this cycle that no one is safe from their wrath, that if you speak out, you can be targeted no matter how popular or how many cycles of incumbent you are,” said Connor Farrell, president of the progressive fundraising group Left Rising, in a phone call. “It’s extremely audacious.”
It's extremely ordinary except perhaps for the amount of money involved. And what the leftists are leaving out of the equation is that Biden carried each of those congressional districts by double digits. Any primary seeking to unseat a Squad member will be an uphill battle from the get-go.
Already, Bush, Bowman, Lee, and Omar have drawn primary opponents for their safe blue seats for the 2024 cycle, thanks to strenuous recruiting efforts from AIPAC, which has already begun making expensive, incendiary ad buys against those members, according to reporting in the Associated Press, the Intercept, and Jewish Insider.
Bush is facing St. Louis prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell, who was running for Senate until late October. Bowman is facing 70-year-old Westchester County executive George Latimer. Lee is facing perennial candidate Bhavini Patel. Omar is facing a rematch with Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, former Illinois congressional candidate Sarah Gad, and military vet Tim Peterson. Jewish Insider has reported that AIPAC is still feverishly recruiting for a challenger for Tlaib as well, and is reportedly still looking for primary challengers for Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez.
The Squad members had targets on their backs the moment they entered Congress. And if they survive this challenge, more power to them. They should also expect a serious challenge in 2026 and beyond.
That's how the system works even if The Squad and others who believe as they do don't like it.
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