The Plan to Defeat Critics of Israel in Congress

from New York Times I'm Michael babbaro. this is the. [Music]. daily a powerful group supporting Israel. is trying to defeat sitting members of. Congress who have criticized the. country's deadly war against Hamas in. today's Democratic Primary in New York. it appears that strategy may. work my colleague Nick fandos.

explains it's Tuesday June. [Music]. 25th Nick by the time people listen to. this episode voting will have begun in. this Congressional race that Democrats. across the country are watching really. closely because in a way it feels like. it's become a test of what a Democrat in.

office in Congress can or can't say. about the war in Gaza so let's start at. the beginning with the congressman who. is at the center of this race so we're. talking here about Congressman Jamal. Bowman he represents the district just. north of New York City that includes. parts of the Bronx and cities like. Yonkers and Mount Vernon but also. suburbs like Larchmont and Scarsdale. he's a former Middle School principal. lifelong educator who was never in.

politics until 2019 and 2020 when he. decided I'm going to take on a big. powerful incumbent in my district why. run for. Congress the simple answer is I want to. do everything in my power uh to meet the. needs of my students and families beyond. the classroom and he did it from the. left when you look throughout the. district you see pockets of the district. where poverty is higher than 20% right. you see Pockets where the rent burdens. are as high as 57% while other parts of.

the district you see incredible wealth. and incredible affluence and incredible. opportunity so remember this was right. at the height of the co pandemic the. election actually took place in the. weeks after the killing of George Floyd. and the whole country was up in arms was. really thinking about race and Equity. was thinking about power and whether the. United States was moving quickly enough. towards the goals that it professes to. have I want to put my run for Congress. on the side for a moment and just speak.

to you as a black man in America and as. someone who's lived there his entire. life and Bowman was really able to. capture that energy as a younger black. man who was not in politics speaks like. a real person I've never I I never saw. anyone that looked like me that sounded. like me that came from the places that. I've come from that spoke the language. that mattered to me for Bowman the race. was about race and policing and Donald. Trump and the feeling that the.

Democratic party was not fighting hard. enough fast enough on all of these. issues I never saw anyone centering. poverty and the working class and. immigrants and those who are most. vulnerable in our country and his slogan. was jobs and education not bombs and. incarceration thank you so much my name. is Jamal Bowman I'm running for congress. in this District the 16th District. please go Ahad and vote and thank you. for considering us as your next.

[Applause]. [Music]. Congressman now his opponent Elliot. Engel was in his 70s he'd been in. Congress more than 30 years wow he's a. committee chairman who was definitely. more moderate than Bowman so in a sense. this becomes a perfect distillation of. the outsider versus The Establishment. Insider at a moment like you just said. where that is the question of the moment.

exactly and Bowman was really able to. capitalize on a couple of instances. where angle looked out of touch in one. case he was caught having stayed in. Washington for the early weeks and. months of the pandemic in from his. district yeah far away from his district. and then when he does show up he's. caught on a hot mic begging for a. speaking slot at an event and there's. just too many folks here if I if I. didn't have a primary I wouldn't care. say that again I didn't have a primary I. wouldn't. care don't do that we're not going to do. this say something to the effect of I.

wouldn't care except I've got a. primary right I remember that moment it. was incredibly embarrassing because. here's a congressman already Under Fire. for being Mia from his district in the. pandemic saying I need to talk at this. news conference not because I. necessarily care but because I'm in a. primary battle against Jamal Bowman and. I need voters to see me speaking and to. think that I care right that's certainly. what it looks like and Bowman on the.

other hand seems so in and of this. moment that come election day he sails. he beats angle by double digits and it's. received at the time as kind of proof of. the left's ascendancy this is only a. couple years after Alexandria Ocasio. Cortez won her seat the squad formed in. Washington that far-left group of. lawmakers right and when Bowman arrives. in Washington he reinforces their ranks. and adds to this kind of growing. Progressive block that in the early days.

of the Biden Administration seems to be. exercising a lot of power and one really. emblematic moment where Bowman and the. squad try and flex their muscle is. around President Biden's signature. infrastructure Bill remember this is a. big trillion dollar program to build. roads and bridges and replace lead pipes. and originally there had been a. democratic proposal to pair it with. another bill more focused on climate. change and some social policy that. progressives really really liked and the.

two get split apart and the left is. really upset about that so in order to. try and get negotiating leverage to get. that other climate bill passed Bowman. and a bunch of the squad and other. progressives vote against the. infrastructure bill but against one of. Biden's biggest legislative priorities. and say it's not that we're against it. but we need to have both so far Nick all. of this very much feels in keeping with. the way Bowman campaign he's governing.

as The. Outsider Progressive that he said he. would be yeah I think that's right he's. pretty consistent and frankly is getting. along all right in Washington I mean. some people don't like those positions. but generally speaking he's in good. standing until two very consequential. weeks last fall and what happens in. those two weeks so let me just set the. scene. here it's late September conservative. Republicans are pulling Congress towards.

a government shutdown they're in on a. Saturday things are a total mess nobody. knows if the government's going to be. able to pay its bills or find a solution. and in the middle of all of this Jamal. Bowman is trying to rush to the capital. to get to a vote he gets to a door that. he usually expects to go out it's locked. he tries it and then what does he do he. pulls a fire alarm New York Congressman. Jamal Bowman the former School principal. caught red-handed pulling the fire alarm. inside a house office building it sends.

the capital basically into chaos becomes. a two-day news cycle absolutely he's a. principal in my schools we did fire. drills you know exactly what happens. when you pull a fire alarm all these. National cameras are already paying. attention and now here's this crazy. Sideshow that he violated the exact same. law that January 6 defendants are being. prosecuted for every single day. interrupting an official proceeding he. said after the fact that he was trying. to open the door but generally you don't. pull a fire alarm to open a door and his. explanation that he did this by accident.

also false it's the reason that I've. asked the house Ethics Committee to. review this and eventually Bowman is. actually charged and pleads guilty to a. misdemeanor for a false fire alarm. listen you know I pulled a fire alarm I. did not do it to disrupt a court. proceeding like I said I was trying to. get out the door I was rushing to a vote. um I'm thankful that you know we have an. agreement in place I'm thankful in 3. months it's going to be dismissed and. now let's move on he has to pay a fine.

and apologize and so it's just a real. kind of black eye on his Public. Image right embarrassing ill advised but. at the end of the day not anything. that's going to necessarily endanger his. career yeah no that's right I think if. it had just been that alone he gets past. it but almost exactly a week later is. October. 7th when h.

attacks Israel. brutally takes hostages leaves 1200. Israelis. dead and really ushers in a new moment. in American politics and particularly. for Democrats who have been divided on. Israel for quite a. while particularly this kind of the. leftwing squad from the rest of the. party and those divisions are just kind. of blown up in the days and weeks after. October 7th and Bowman of all people.

throws himself right into the middle of. the wreckage we acknowledge the trauma. and the pain and the fear he condemns. hamas's attack on October 7th but then. just Days Later calls for a ceasefire in. the region essentially saying Israel. should not defend itself and that's a. position I should note by the way that. is way out ahead of President Biden who. hadn't even gone yet at that point to. Israel to give Benjamin Netanyahu that. famous hug and say that the United.

States was sanding with Israel you're. calling for some weird ceasefire that. isn't going to accomplish anything other. than Hamas give Hamas which is basically. an Isis organization time to regroup and. kill more Jews never say ever that I'm. okay with the killing of Jews ever say. that ever because no one this is insane. now from Bowman's point of view this is. consistent with the way that he views. International politics remember the no.

bomb's part of his slogan right he wants. Israel here to not meet violence with. violence to find some sort of diplomatic. or political solution let me just be. very clear it's one thing to support. Israel which the US has always done and. will continue to do it's another thing. to never hold Israel accountable for. their behavior whether it's related to. the occupation the open air prison that. is Gaza or the war crimes that are. taking place right now during this Siege.

I mean Israel Bowman sees this as a. clear moral case I think he relates. what's happening in Israel to the racial. Justice struggle in the United States. that he's familiar with to the economic. struggle Israel to him is a powerful. nation that is not making good on its. own promises as a democracy and is. oppressing Palestinians and the Muslim. Community the Arab community and. Palestinians receive that as eraser and. even further receive it as. dehumanization. so it sounds like in this moment Bowman.

is becoming the public face of left-wing. Congressional Democrats weariness and. skepticism of Israel at an exceptionally. sensitive moment yes and in the weeks. that would follow he goes there again. and again and again so he's one of the. first lawmakers not only to call for a. ceasefire but then to accuse Israel of. committing genocide in Gaza once its. counter offensive begins he begins. calling for the United States to cut off. all all military aid to Israel which is.

one of its closest allies in the middle. of this war saying basically American. taxpayer dollars shouldn't be going to. bombs at one point he's caught on video. saying that claims that Hamas use sexual. violence against women around October. 7th is quote propaganda later he. apologized for those remarks and all of. this really adds to Bowman's prestige on. the left he becomes a big figure a. galvanizing figure really in this. energized anti-war movement around Gaza.

but at the same time he's taking a huge. political. risk his district which remember is just. North of New York City is quite diverse. it's got a big black and Latino. population but it also is home to one of. the largest Jewish populations in the. country and many of his constituents in. that Community feel. betrayed and not only that back in. Washington pro-israel groups who. exercise a huge amount of Power are.

furious at. Bowman they look at everything that's. happening and they think he's got an. election coming we might be able to. defeat him and in so doing make an. example out of him. [Music]. [Music].

we'll be right. [Music]. back so Nick tell us about this well. funded effort by supporters of Israel to. try to make an example of Congressman. Bowman to answer that Michael let's take. a a little bit of a step back in time. and talk about APAC the American Israel.

public affairs committee which is a. bipartisan group that's been around for. a long time whose mission really is to. advance Israel's interest in the United. States traditionally they've had very. strong relationships with presidents and. legislative leaders in both parties. they've been really effective frankly at. creating a consensus in Congress and in. Washington more broadly to send military. aid and defense to help protect Israel. in the Middle East from its neighbors. they pay for lawmakers to travel to.

Israel and see the country and they've. long endorsed candidates they see as. friends of Israel and even made small. donations and then more recently they. began to take much bigger overt. political. steps a couple years ago they formed a. super PCT for the first time and they're. doing it because they're watching that. consensus that they work so hard to. build start to crumble and particularly. on the left among young voters and. particularly young Democratic voters and. Democratic voters of color who no longer.

see Israel in the way that maybe their. parents or grandparents generation did M. and for apek the embodiment of that. change is the. squad then October 7th happens and. intensifies all of these Dynamics in. Apex senses a real existential threat. and so they go and they survey the. Electoral landscape they look at all the. members of the squad and other. progressives in Congress who are. critical of Israel and are trying to. change the American relationship to it.

and they figure out okay where could we. go in electorally and could we knock. some of these people. out and how do they end up zeroing in on. Bowman of all people so beating. incumbents is not the easiest thing to. do so in many cases they look at some of. their biggest critics people like. Rashida Talib or Alexandria Ocasio. Cortez and they simply can't find a. viable Challenger these guys are smart. they've run political campaigns before. they don't want to put good money after. bad and waste it but Bowman they look at.

him and think this guy is beatable not. only do they not like what he's saying. about Israel but in this case they are. able to find a primary Challenger who is. not only credible but is deeply popular. in the district and who's. that I'm George ladimer the opponent is. George laimer I've served in my local. city hall I've served in the county and. the state legislature and now as. Westchester County Executive to focus on. getting results not just rhetoric a.

well-known Democratic fixture who first. entered politics in the Reagan Era and. now serves as the county executive of. Westchester County which is the biggest. County in the district we've seen Israel. created 75 years ago as a valid country. it has a right to exist and it has a. right to exist on defensible borders and. he's also importantly staunchly. pro-israel I think the Israeli people. need to see that they have a partner for. peace and they don't see a partner for. peace right now I think a Democrat. frankly in the mold of that old. consensus model who is willing to stand.

by United States Ally Israel through. thick and thin and I I have taken the. position for a legislator to take a. future legislator is to work through. your legislative bodies and try to. influence the president in that. fashion so in the fall he starts getting. Outreach from local rabbis and Jewish. leaders in the district to jump in and. APAC gives him some encouragement as. well H so in a sense APAC is is helping. to recruit ladimer to run against Bowman.

right and not only do they help to. recruit him but once he does get in the. race and establishes I'm a supporter of. Israel they begin raising very large. amounts of money directly for his. campaign and in time their Super PAC. starts spending far far more to advance. his candidacy and what does it look like. for apac's superpack to advance. Latimer's candidacy in this primary so. since miday apack superc has spent.

upwards of. $14.5 million in this race just over a. month yeah it's a huge amount of money. something like almost. $177,000 an hour at one point and if you. add it all up it's actually not only. more than APAC has ever spent in a. single race it's more than any outside. group any Super PAC has ever spent in a. house race George ladimer is putting. people ahead of personal agendas and. delivering real Progressive results so. some of that money actually goes towards. a positive ad trying to improve.

Latimer's image as a good Progressive. who stands by President Biden George. ladimer will take on mag extremist and. he'll work with President Biden to keep. delivering Progressive results but most. of it is reserved for attacks on Bowman. here's the deal I used to be for Jamal. Bowman but not anymore Bowman put his. extreme ideology ahead of us one of only. six Democrats to oppose the historic. infrastructure bill so they bring back. that infrastructure vote and the idea is. basically to try and paint Bowman as a.

disloyal Democrat somebody who's. attacking the president and is a Chaos. Agent in Washington Bowman called. President Biden a liar Jamal Bowman has. his own agenda and he's hurting New. York now notably notice I have not. mentioned Israel because none of these. ads at least none of the ones on TV. mention Israel why would that be why. would APAC which is clearly in the. business of protecting Israel run a. bunch of TV ads against Jamal Bowman who.

they object to because of his views on. Israel and not mention those views about. Israel the ads yeah it's a great. question and it's one that's inspired. Bowman and his supporters to be like. what gives so from Apex point of view. the logic is that voters in the district. who really care about Israel no matter. which side they're on have probably. already made up their mind about Jamal. Bowman they're not going to be persuaded. but there's a big bunch of primary. voters who may not be following the war. that closely but they are loyal. Democrats they like President Biden.

they're interested in beating Trump this. fall and they are susceptible to seeing. ads about a guy who seems to be bucking. the president who's out of the. mainstream and not representing them. interesting so an effective strategy. from a group supporting Israel is not. necessarily to talk about Israel in this. campaign but to talk about the way that. a Democrat Jamal Bowman in this case is. letting down his party's president is. letting down his party is basically.

being disloyal to the Democratic party. not necessarily asra yes and so far from. what we can tell it seems to be pretty. effective explain that so when I'm out. in the district talking to voters a. really interesting thing has started. happening many of them when I ask them. their views on Latimer and Bowman start. quoting back to me or citing facts that. are very prominently being featured in. these commercials now often they think. it's their own idea but in political. advertising this is a sign of real.

success voters are thinking about. infrastructure they're thinking about. loyalty they're thinking about Bowman as. a Chaos Agent and I don't think it's an. accident that they're thinking about. those things it's not an accident. because they're getting those views. you're suggesting from these now. ubiquitous ads exactly so ubiquitous. that some households are getting dozens. of mailers a week reinforcing these. points and some of these Apex ads have. been viewed upwards of 180 million times. wow 180 I mean it's astonishing it's. complete saturation what you're.

describing here is anecdotal reporting. that you've done in the district what. are the polls telling us about the state. of this race between Bowman and ladimer. there has not been as much credible. polling in this race as we would like. but what we have seen in polls that have. come out is that laimer has opened up a. very large lead double digits and well. it's hard to exactly attribute cause and. effect here I think everyone would agree. that you spend 15 million is going to. have an impact on the way voters think.

and eventually pull on the ballot right. AKA these ads do seem to be very much. hurting to ma Bowman they're certainly. not helping okay what does Bowman have. to say about the fact that he has become. the target of a group like APAC in this. race Bowman's response has been really. interesting because where other. politicians I think faced with this set. of circumstances who want to get. reelected might kind of pull back back. or moderate some of their harshest.

positions Bowman has totally stood firm. where he is and he has actually leaned. into to the APAC ads and made APAC a. central point of his campaign arguing. that they are the representation of. everything that's wrong with big money. in American politics that they're coming. in and have basically not only bought. his opponent but are now trying to buy. an election and oh by the way they may. be a bipartisan group but they're doing. with big checks from Republican MEGA Don. and they're coming after me not just.

because of my position on Israel but. because those donors don't like the. other things I stand for the progressive. values my outspokenness as a black man. he's really made this a kind of. referendum in his words of the money. versus the many and by what he means by. that is all this money versus the people. who don't have that much money but are. fighting against entrenched corporate. interests he's basically taking it back. to his original 2020 Democrat primary. when he was running on a message of Me.

versus The Establishment exactly and he. says the establishment never liked me. and this strategy has really worked to. kind of galvanize the national. Progressive Movement they've really. rallied around him they've donated money. groups like justice Democrats have. emptied their bank accounts to try and. save him what's up what's up what's up. and all of this came together this past. weekend at a rally in the. Bronx what's up New York.

where representative Ocasio Cortez and. Bernie Sanders joined Bowman and a bunch. of other progressives some of whom flew. in from as far away as Florida and. Bowman was really fired up and because. they see the power of our movement they. are spending more money than has ever. been spent in American history. y'all he framed as if their whole. movement was on the line hey. pack is scared to death we are not going.

to stand silent while us tax dollars. kills babies and women and. children and profanely again and again. ripped into APAC and what they're doing. in this race people ask me why I got a. foul. mouth what am I supposed to do you. coming after me you com I just want to. say Michael as I was there Bowman very.

well may keep this seat mhm but the man. on that stage was certainly acting like. he was up against the wall and had. nothing to lose he was letting it all. rip nothing that apack can do is going. to stop our. Liberation. nothing they have. already. [Applause]. lost Nick if Bowman does lose and we. have to be really clear on the ifess of. that question it's a summer primary.

turnout's going to be who knows we're in. the middle of a heat wve here the. polling's been kind of subpar but if. Bowman loses I have to imagine APAC will. claim this as a big victory for its. cause will say we have made an example. of this member of Congress but taking. out a lawmaker I have to think is very. different than rebuilding a consensus. around support for Israel. which is apac's real goal isn't it.

absolutely this is such an important. Point Michael because as we've said. apac's real goal here is to maintain or. reinstate a consensus support for Israel. and the United States and that has to do. with both who's in Congress and who the. people electing them are and you can. take people out of Congress and they may. succeed in taking out Bowman they may. succeed later this summer in another. Primary in Missouri in taking out. representative Cory Bush another member. of the squad exactly but if they're not.

changing the minds of the people who. elect them if they're not actually. running ads that are trying to change. those people's minds running candidates. that are trying to change those people's. minds who's to say that in the future. when circumstances are different or. candidates don't have the flaws that. Bowman maybe did that those voters. aren't just going to keep electing more. politicians that APAC doesn't like and. it seems to me that in this race not.

only have they missed an opportunity to. try and move voters in the direction. they won they may actually be spawning a. bigger backlash that could cause them. further problems down the line the very. people that they're trying to win back I. think have only seen their distrust for. apack grow right and perhaps by proxy. Israel itself exactly and in the long. term that seems to make the problem. worse not better. H but at the same time for APAC a win's.

a win and they seem to be saying that. they are willing to let that longer term. battle over Democratic hearts and Minds. play out another day because right now. they have a much more urgent question. and problem in front of them and that is. the war that's going on with Hamas and. the need for American military aid and. so the composition of this Congress. matters a lot to Israel right now and it. matters a lot to APAC and a defeat of. somebody like Jamal Bowman not only.

takes out one of their critics but it. sends a message to everybody else in. Congress who may be considering voting. to cut off Aid or criticizing Israel in. other ways that you're either with us or. we're coming after you next and that. chilling effect for APAC may be the most. important victory of. [Music]. all well Nick thank you very much always. a pleasure.

[Music]. Michael we'll be right. back here's what else you need to. another day Julian Assange the founder. of WikiLeaks has agreed to plead guilty. to to a single felony count of illegally.

obtaining and disclosing US National. Security material in exchange for his. release from a British prison where he. spent more than 5 years the deal would. end assange's long standoff with the US. which began after he released highly. sensitive American Secrets including. documents about military activity in. Iraq and Afghanistan and confidential. cables shared among diplomats under the.

deal Assange will serve no additional. prison. time and for the first time the Supreme. Court has agreed to decide the. constitutionality of state laws Banning. Medical Treatments for transgender youth. the court will examine a Tennessee law. that prohibits three types of. transgender medical care for minors. puberty blockers crosssection hormones. and gender transition.

surgeries its ruling expected next year. could have broad ramifications for the. roughly two dozen states that have. enacted similar. bands today's episode was produced by. Jessica Chong and muj Zi it was edited. by Liz o balen with help from Rachel. quester contains original music by Maran. Lozano Rowan nisto Dan Powell and Alicia. bitu and was engineered by Chris Wood.

our theme music is by Jim runberg and. Ben Lansford of. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Michael. babbaro see you tomorrow. [Music].