By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) managed to unseat Rep Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) on Tuesday by spending an unprecedented $14 million on a single House race.
From Rolling Stone, Progressive Jamaal Bowman Loses Seat After Pro-Israel Lobby Boosted Opponent”:
Progressive Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman has been ousted from his New York Congressional seat after a contentious primary soaked in special interest money.
Democratic Westchester County Executive George Latimer secured the first victory in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) $100 million effort to oust progressive lawmakers critical of Israel’s ongoing military siege against Palestinians in Gaza. The Associated Press called the race just before 9:45 p.m. E.T.
The race between Bowman and Latimer was the most expensive in the history of the House of Representatives, with AIPAC pouring $14 million into New York’s 16th Congressional District. The candidates and their backers spent a combined total of $23 million on advertising alone.
Bowman felt that he wasn’t running a race against Latimer, but rather battling against powerful interest groups seeking to oust him and his closest colleagues over their criticism of Israel. The congressman recently told Rolling Stone that “this race against AIPAC is a really good litmus test as it relates to that, because [they’re] a big-money lobby [that’s] spending more money in this race than has ever been spent in primary history. They’re doing that because they do not want a progressive agenda to move forward.”
In the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, Bowman was one of the first and most vocal advocates in Congress for a permanent ceasefire. The congressman drew widespread criticism for casting doubt on reports of mass beheadings of infants by Hamas and the alleged systematic rape of Israeli women during the Oct. 7 attacks as Israeli “propaganda.” While Bowman later said that he “regretted” the statements, the sourcing behind the claims remains dubious.
Bowman was elected in 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter hysteria and ousted 16-term incumbent Eliot Engel, who was a diehard Zionist. His seat was quite vulnerable not only due to changing attitudes on BLM but also his own missteps.
AIPAC saw an opportunity to get him out and took advantage of it. That said, while the results are not fully in yet, it’s looking like they had to spend over $300 a vote.
The fact they’re having to come out from behind the shadows and interfere in our elections while the whole world is watching is an entirely new situation which they’re clearly panicked over.
We now have sitting congressmen openly stating the Israel Lobby controls our Congress.
Israel First activists like Ben Shapiro are now having to go before their audiences and tell them that AIPAC running the show is nothing to be alarmed about.
At some point, this situation is no longer going to be sustainable.