The Israel lobby spent 150 million on defeating a single candidate

Published 27 June 2024 at 13.17

Foreign. The Israel lobby Aipac in the USA invested a whopping SEK 150 million to have the democratic politician Jamaal Bowman defeated in a primary election. Now it is clear that the attempt was successful – but some think that the lobby group went a bit too far.

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Jamaal Bowman has become one of the most Israel-critical members of Congress and is therefore also an obvious target for Aipac.

In the Democratic primary in New York, he was challenged by another black man, the Israel-friendly George Latimer who received tens of millions of kroner in donations from the Israel lobby during his political career.

Aipac invested the equivalent of 155 million kroner on negative election propaganda against Jamaal Bowman, and in the election Latimer won big.

The behavior of the Israel lobby – the organization effectively controls who gets to sit in Congress – is starting to attract criticism in the US, although the issue is still taboo. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie spoke earlier in June about how all Republicans in the House of Representatives have their own “Aipac person” telling them how to vote.

All Republicans in Congress have "their own babysitter" from the Israel lobby:

Congressman Thomas Massie speaks out on Tucker Carlson.

Just managed to defeat the mighty Aipac himself. https://t.co/u0ZW5mo6vb

— Fria Tider (@friatider) June 12, 2024

Even within the Democrats, voices are beginning to be raised against the system. Democratic politicians believe that Aipac went too far in the case of Jamaal Bowman, and one calls the election an “overkill” on the part of the lobby, writes Axios.

The member, who wishes to remain anonymous, warns that Aipac's boundless behavior could back against the organization, because people get upset.

Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler tells Axios that Aipac could have been content with putting less money into the campaign when it looked like Bowman would have lost anyway.

Jamaal Bowman has also received support from colleagues in the House of Representatives. One of them, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, accuses Aipac of running a reign of terror over Congress.

An unspoken secret in Congress is that much of the reflexive, blind, unconditional vote support for nearly any Israeli gov action isn't from actual agreement.

It's from fear.

Reps are terrified of this. Of AIPAC. So they don't vote their conscience. They vote their fear. https://t.co/0MmZnUtBTH

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 19, 2024

The Many have spoken.
Congratulations @LatimerforNY! pic.twitter.com/kpCew4QMZ7

— AIPAC (@AIPAC) June 26, 2024