John,
In a surprising move, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer denounced right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for an election in Israel in light of the humanitarian crisis worsening in Gaza — and AIPAC didn’t like it.
The GOP megadonor-funded lobby group condemned Schumer’s statement and ironically said, “Israel is an independent democracy that decides for itself when elections are held and chooses its own leaders.”
That’s interesting, because as we speak, AIPAC is spending more than $100 million from mostly Republican donors to influence democratic primaries, specifically attacking Black and brown incumbents like Rep. Jamaal Bowman with unprecedented spending.
George Latimer — AIPAC’s hand-picked, moderate candidate challenging Jamaal for his seat in NY-16 — has refused to comment on Schumer’s statement, but we know he spoke on a panel at AIPAC’s conference last week and has made racist, Islamophobic claims about Jamaal and others who support a ceasefire. And it’s no wonder why: Latimer has received $600,000 from AIPAC.
Jamaal had this to say about it, and he’s right:
We cannot let a fake Democrat in the pocket of AIPAC replace a progressive champion like Jamaal in Congress. We’re fighting to stop this lobby group’s dark money influence in our elections and re-elect Jamaal (and the rest of the Squad) this year, but we can’t do it alone.
In solidarity,
Justice Democrats