by Nicholas Ballasy
Progressive House lawmakers in the so-called Squad criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for reportedly committing to spend $100 million to defeat them.
According to a report from Slate, Democratic Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Jamaal Bowman of New York, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are all targets of the $100 million AIPAC spending campaign.
AIPAC’s press office was not available for comment on the reported $100 million figure before press time.
“If what AIPAC was lobbying for was truly popular in our districts, they wouldn’t need to spend millions to smear us,” Omar wrote on social media. “We win because we fight for the people we represent, not Republican Super PACs. Help us build a grassroots effort to defeat them.”
Omar added a link to her post that directs her followers to an Act Blue donation page for her campaign. Squad member Hakeem Jefferies, D-N.Y, has raised more than $7.8 million since January of this year, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) data shows. The same dataset shows that Omar has raised more than $1.5 million in the same time period.
Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., also responded to the AIPAC news.
“Criticism of the Israeli gov is virtually nonexistent in US politics, but apparently that’s not enough,” she wrote on X. “Gotta spend *$100 million* to unseat the few who believe in Palestinian human rights & a ceasefire that most Americans already support. The acceptable level of dissent is 0.”
Ocasio-Cortez, commonly called “AOC,” has so far raised more than $3.5 million for her anticipated re-election campaign, according to the FEC.
Omar, Ocasio-Cortez and the other members of the Squad have been calling on Congress and the White House to support a ceasefire since the Hamas terror attack on Israel Oct. 7.
The GOP-led House passed a censure resolution against Tlaib on Nov. 7 for “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.” It received the support of 22 Democrats and all Republicans in the chamber. Tlaib added fuel to the fire by insisting in social media and appearances that Israel was responsible for the deadly October 17 blast that devastated a Gaza hospital, even after western media outfits corrected themselves and proved that the rocket was fired not by Israel but by Hamas and careened off-target due to a malfunction.
According to the resolution, Tlaib’s Oct. 8 statement “claimed that Hamas’ October 7 attack on the Jewish people was partly attributable to United States security aid provided to Israel, which ignores the fact that the Iron Dome, a co-developed air defense system, saved lives that day by intercepting rockets launched from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilian targets.”
Squad members and other House Democrats wrote a letter to President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday pushing for a ceasefire.
“We are profoundly shocked by the grave violations of children’s rights in the context of armed conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the lawmakers wrote.
Progressive lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday to block $320 million worth of arms sales from the U.S. to Israel.
“Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right ethnonationalist government continue to commit war crimes in their siege of the Gaza Strip,” said Omar in a statement after the bill was introduced. “From requests to minimize civilian casualties, avoid a ground invasion, avoid reoccupation of Gaza, and institute a meaningful humanitarian pause, Netanyahu continues to thumb his nose at U.S. policy and requests.”
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Nicholas Ballasy has been breaking news for more than a decade in the nation’s capital and questioning political leaders about the most pressing issues facing the nation. Since 2008, Ballasy has interviewed former President Bill Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former President Donald Trump, Sen. Mitt Romney, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. John McCain, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and more.
Photo “Rep. Ilhan Omar” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
