Democrat pro-Israel group looks to oust 2 'Squad' members from Congress
Democratic Majority for Israel PAC endorses challengers to AOC allies Reps. Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A pro-Israel Democrat group is looking to oust two controversial far-left "Squad" members from their seats in Congress this cycle.
The Democratic Majority for Israel PAC on Wednesday endorsed George Latimer, the Westchester County executive who is challenging Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, and Wesley Bell, the progressive prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County who is running against Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, in their upcoming primaries this summer.
The group is the latest in a string to target the "Squad" members over their contentious comments regarding Israel. Last week, the Jewish Democratic Council of America also endorsed Bowman and Bush's opponents, which was the first time they supported challengers to House Democrats, the New York Post reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The efforts to oust Bowman and Bush come after the representatives made a string of controversial comments and actions with regard to Israel, which has drawn the ire of such groups.
MASSIVE COALITION FORMS TO PROTECT LEFT-WING ‘SQUAD’ MEMBERS AGAINST ONSLAUGHT OF ELECTION SPENDING
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo. (Alex Wong/Getty/File)
Following the Hamas terrorist group's bloody incursion into Israel on Oct. 7, Bush accused Israel of retaliating by targeting hospitals and committing war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We can’t be silent about Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign. Babies, dead. Pregnant women, dead. Elderly, dead. Generations of families, dead," Bush wrote in an Oct. 29 post on X, just weeks after Hamas' attack on Israel. "Millions of people in Gaza with nowhere to go being slaughtered. The U.S. must stop funding these atrocities against Palestinians."
Bush also said the bipartisan vote to censure fellow Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., for her anti-Israel rhetoric was "outrageous" in a heated speech on the House floor.
CORI BUSH SHAPING UP TO BE MOST VULNERABLE ‘SQUAD’ MEMBER THIS ELECTION CYCLE
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fellow "Squad" member Bowman also has a history of anti-Israel rhetoric. The New York Democrat said reports of Israeli women being raped by Hamas terrorists were "propaganda" just days after taking part in a viewing of footage of the Hamas attack.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/File)
"There was propaganda used in the beginning of the siege," Bowman said in a TikTok post discovered first by Politico. "There’s still no evidence of beheaded babies or raped women. But they still keep using that lie [for] propaganda."
Bowman later tried to walk back the statement after more evidence came to light of sexual assaults during the Hamas attack on Israel, saying, "I always stand against sexual violence in all forms and stand for peace for all."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He has also been criticized for defending a mural of Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, who said Jews were "the synagogue of Satan" and "termites," and arguing that it should remain in New York.
Bowman and Bush, alongside some other fellow "Squad" members, boycotted Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s speech to Congress in July, months before the deadly Hamas attacks, in protest of what they said were human rights abuses against Palestinians.