Jamaal Bowman is out. The two-term congressman from New York’s 16th Congressional District was defeated in the Democratic primary by George Latimer, a longtime Westchester County pol. But Bowman’s new career, that of a professional anti-Israel activist, could be beginning. If so, he would hardly be the first U.S. politician to blame his electoral defeat on a dark and sinister Jewish conspiracy.
Bowman’s time in Congress was as stormy as it was brief. The former educator was elected in 2020 after beating Eliot Engel, a 16-term incumbent, in the primary. His election was hailed as a victory for the progressive wing of the party. Bowman identified as part of the so-called Squad, a group of anti-Israel lawmakers that includes Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), among others. Bowman’s decision to do so was curious.
To say that Bowman’s views on Israel did not reflect those of his constituents would be an understatement. The district has a high percentage of Jewish voters. Polls consistently show that a majority of people support the Jewish state—both Jews and non-Jews. Indeed, Engel himself had been a strong supporter of Israel. As chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Engel worked to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship. Bowman chose another path.
During his campaign, Bowman did his best to obfuscate his views on Israel. He pretended to oppose the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that maligns Israel, only to confirm his support later. He touted his endorsement by J Street, an organization that bills itself as “pro-Israel, pro-peace” but is hypercritical of the Jewish state. As Commentary magazine’s Seth Mandel observed, “J Street takes lawmakers on trips to Israel seemingly designed to increase their distrust” of the country. “Bowman entered Congress a skeptic of Israel but a supporter of the two-state solution and the legitimacy of both sides in the conflict” until a 2021 J Street-organized trip “cured him of that.”
Bowman told Politico that the trip was a “transformational moment” for him and left him believing that Israel, the world’s sole Jewish state, should no longer exist in its present form. Suffice it to say, these are views well outside the mainstream of most Americans, Jewish and otherwise.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas and other Iranian-backed proxies invaded Israel, perpetrating the largest massacre of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust. Terrorists brutally butchered Israelis, proudly filming their crimes.
Bowman, however, was undeterred. While Israel was under missile barrage, he voted against funding the Iron Dome missile defense system. He accused Israel of a “genocide” of Palestinian civilians, ignoring the tremendous steps that the Israel Defense Forces were taking to reduce civilian casualties, including some of the largest mass evacuations of civilians ever undertaken in urban combat. He also ignored Hamas’s use of human shields.
Polls showed broad American support for Israel in the wake of the attack. Unsurprisingly, most people found Hamas’s crimes, which include murdering children, setting the elderly on fire in their homes, torturing family members in front of one another, and raping and mutilating women, repulsive. Bowman seemed to feel differently, however.
Originally published by CAMERA.
