With the Democratic primary season winding down, members of the Squad are speaking more directly than ever about the role that the pro-Israel lobby played in silencing critics of Israel’s human rights abuses in Congress, as well as Democrats’ complicity.
As the Democratic National Convention entered its final day in Chicago, the topic of the war on Gaza and the role of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in elections had been largely absent from the main stage. No Palestinian speakers got time on the dais, despite the protest efforts from the “Uncommitted” movement this week.
Instead, the conversation among Democrats about pushing for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to U.S. weapons shipments to Israel, and the party’s role in allowing AIPAC to shape its primaries has been taking place outside the United Center, where progressives held protests to hold convention delegates’ feet to the fire.
And victims of AIPAC’s political campaigns were on hand to add their voices to the demonstrations.
“Their role in my primary was egregious,” Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who was unseated amid an onslaught of millions of dollars from AIPAC, told The Intercept during an interview at the DNC. “It was largely deceptive, because they were trying to hide their affiliation as far as the reason they needed to run someone against me. But after my opponent won, they wanted to boast the win.”
AIPAC spent more than $25 million to unseat Bush and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., in primaries this cycle. The outside spending from AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups made the two races the most expensive Democratic House primaries in history.
AIPAC’s attack ads against Bush concealed the group’s sole policy priority is Israel, Bush said.
“Not one ad spoke about Israel. Not one ad spoke about Palestine,” she said. “Not one ad spoke about antisemitism.”
“They were bigoted, they were racist, and it was allowed.”The pro-Israel campaigning against members of the Squad has largley focused on Black members of Congress. Bush, Bowman, and Reps. Summer Lee, D-Pa., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., had all emerged as targets of pro-Israel spending, though AIPAC itself begged out of the latter races. In Bush’s race, AIPAC’s super PAC aired an ad........