US Congresswoman loses Congress seat after opposing Netanyahu
US Congresswoman loses Congress seat
2024-08-08
Shafaq News/ US Representative Cori Bush, who strongly opposes the Israeli war on Gaza, lost the Democratic Party primary elections in Congress.
Bush, one of the most prominent progressives in Congress, was defeated by local Attorney General Wesley Bell, who had the backing of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful pro-Israel lobby group, according to USA Today.
Jamaal Bowman, another progressive targeted by AIPAC, also lost, spending unprecedented sums to defeat them.
“We will stand up for what is right no matter what the cost,” said the Missouri congresswoman, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2020.
“I hope Bill takes the time to get to know our Palestinian, Arab and Muslim community and see the beauty in what we have created in the United States,” she added in her concession speech, which was posted on her X account.
Bush had introduced a resolution in Congress calling for a ceasefire in Gaza just weeks after the war broke out following the October 7 attack.
She also boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last month, saying his attendance would be celebrating a “war criminal” who led an act of “genocide,” and she also accused Israeli officials of committing genocide.
Bush, who was a pastor and then a nurse, was active in the Black Lives Matter movement and led protests after the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
For its part, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that “the lobby, although most of the ads funded by AIPAC did not directly refer to Israel, spent nearly $9 million on ads.”
The American newspaper indicates that “this result constitutes a major electoral victory for AIPAC, which has targeted many members of Congress who criticize Israel.
shafaq.com
