Could One or More of the Squadrini Be Toppled?
BY
More on the sinister alliance between Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Rashida Tlaib can be found here: “Facing Primary Threat, Congressman Jamaal Bowman Doubles Down, Enters Joint Fundraising Pact With Anti-Israel ‘Squad’ Member Rashida Tlaib,” by Jordan Esrig, New York Sun,
A recent Los Angeles campaign fundraiser for Mr. Bowman and another “Squad” member, far-left Congresswoman Cori Bush of Missouri, recently came under scrutiny after a report by the Free Beacon detailed the swanky event’s attendance list. Among those at the event were anti-Israel activists who have endorsed Palestinian militant groups and are supporters of the antisemitic Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, the outlet reported.
Attendees at this fundraiser paid $13,200 to attend. Among them were people with long anti-Israel records. Melina Abdullah, for example, serves as executive director of BLM Grassroots, which said that “resistance [referring to the attack by Hamas on October 7] must not be condemned” and she praised the attacks as “a desperate act of self-defense.” Another host at the fundraiser was Jodie Evans, a co-founder of Code Pink, a left-wing group that argued on Oct. 7 that Hamas had “every right to resist” Israel’s “apartheid regime.” Estee Chandler also served as a fundraiser host—Chandler, who leads Jewish Voice for Peace’s Los Angeles chapter,blamed Israel Israel for provoking Hamas’s attack, citing the Jewish state’s “constant ethnic cleansing.”
Los Angeles is very far from the 16th district in New York, but Bowman will raise his money where he can. What he offers these donors is a consistent anti-Israeli line; no other issue so animates him, and it has become the centerpiece of his campaign.
Though once viewed as being a more moderate voice on Israel within the Progressive camp, Rep. Bowman has in recent months pivoted to being among the most critical of the Jewish State on Capitol Hill. The former school principal has been a mainstay at far-left anti-Israel protests and has featured prominently at anti-Zionist demonstrations – sponsored by groups such as IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace – alongside Reps. Tlaib and Bush….
The anti-Israel group J Street had taken Rep. Bowman on a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2021.
The Squad is not very large. It began with four members, all of them far to the left and all of them hostile to Israel. These four are Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, and Ayaana Pressley. Since then four others have become associated with the group: Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, Summer Lee, and Greg Casar (who is the least anti-Israel of the bunch, concentrating on economic issues).
Summer Lee faces two strong candidates in the Democratic primary, and in 2022, she defeated Steve Irwin in the primary by only 1%. AIPAC has decided not to waste money trying to defeat Rashida Tlaib, whose district is heavily Muslim. But AIPAC as of now is determined to spend tens of millions of dollars in an attempt to defeat Omar, Bowman, Bush, and Lee. Omar, we should remember, won the Democratic primary in 2022 by only 2500 votes; Don Samuels, who was her opponent in that race, is running again. This time, he has a good chance to defeat her, as many of the voters in her district have been put off by her constant harping on Israel’s wickedness, and by the speech she recently delivered, in Somali, to a group of Somali migrants, in which she clearly stated that she was interested mainly in promoting the interests of Somalia, to which she pledged her sole loyalty. She never mentioned America. That appearance went viral, and it has damaged her candidacy. With AIPAC money, Don Samuels has a chance to defeat her. As for Summer Lee, she also faces a strong candidate, Bhavini Patel, in the Democratic primary. Lee has not done herself any good with Jewish voters, of whom there are many in her district, by being one of only ten House members who, on Oct. 25, voted against a bill that asserted the House “stands with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists.”
Prior to that, Lee had joined a number of other so-called “progressive” House Democrats to support a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza — a resolution that did not mention Hamas terrorism and drew a false equivalence between the victims of its atrocities and the deaths of civilians in Gaza who were being used by Hamas as human shields.
Ilhan Omar and Summer Lee — that’s two members of the Squad who at this point, with that AIPAC money going to their primary opponents, look vulnerable in 2024. And two more, Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, now find themselves way behind their primary opponents, George Latimer and Lesley Bell, in raising campaign funds. And in both campaigns the anti-Israel animus displayed by Bowman and Bush in their votes and speeches and social media comments has been a major issue.
It will be quite something if AIPAC helps topple two or three or four of the Squadlings, Squadrettes, Squadrini, Squadroons. Right now it has focused its efforts on raising money and otherwise supporting primary opponents of Omar, Lee, Bush, and Bowman. If all four are defeated because of their anti-Israel votes, that will be the end of the Squad. Rashida Tlaib will be a Party of One. It’s lonely at the bottom.
