(edited from David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Prominent anti-Semites are rallying behind Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.), who faces a much-contested primary on Tuesday, as the radical lawmaker seeks to avoid becoming the first "Squad" member to lose his seat.
Bowman earlier this month sat for an interview with Cynthia Nixon on Zeteo, a new media platform founded by former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, whose show was canceled after he repeatedly disparaged Israel in the weeks following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. Hasan is also an outspoken defender of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), the "Squad" member whom StopAntiSemitism.com named as its 2019 anti-Semite of the year.
Nixon, best known as a Sex and the City actress, condemned Israel for defending itself and led a group of left-wing activists who marched outside the White House in November. The activists also announced a five-day hunger strike in support of Hamas, the terrorist organization waging war on Israel. In 2018, when Nixon mounted a failed campaign for governor of New York, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz denounced the actress as an "anti-Israel" bigot over her support for boycotts of the Jewish state.
Over the weekend, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) joined Bowman onstage at a campaign rally and attempted to fire up the crowd using a tone that most Americans would describe as shrill. "Are we ready to take on AIPAC?" Ocasio-Cortez shrieked in reference to American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel advocacy group. "Are we ready to kick some Wall Street ass? Good. Because we are tired of having corporate lobbies trying to buy up our communities and sell them to the highest bidder."
Several days before the campaign event, Ocasio-Cortez accused supporters of Israel of "weaponizing anti-Semitism" by leveling "false accusations" against "people of color and women of color by bad-faith political actors." The radical left-wing politician did not explain what was false about the anti-Semitism charges leveled against Bowman, who was forced to apologize for describing reports of sexual violence that Hamas committed in Israel on Oct. 7 as "lies" and "propaganda."
Another "Squad" member, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.), defended Bowman during an interview with anti-Israel activist and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman. Pressley touted Bowman as an "unapologetic black man" and "truth-teller" who understands that "our destinies are tied from Gaza to Haiti" and who is "doing the work [and] leading with love."
Recent polling suggests Bowman will lose the Democratic primary to George Latimer, the Westchester County executive, who is endorsed by Hillary Clinton. Latimer said this week that beating Bowman in the primary would be a signal that the "people who believe that it's trendy to attack Israel are failing."
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