By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
The Democratic Socialists of America is the largest and most powerful organization of the alt-left today. It has over 92,000 members and a chapter in every state, and has been effective in winning elections in liberal regions to enact extremist policies.
Beyond its call for legalizing a populist kleptocracy in a broad redistribution of wealth to “working people”, the group has opted to single out and vilify Israel and its supporters. It is progressively taking steps to call for the outright targeting of Jews for all measures of attack, including violence.
Banning the Jewish State
The official platform of the DSA is anti-Israel. The site notes that the “platform proudly states continued support for and involvement with the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and efforts to eliminate U.S. military aid to Israel, while resisting the “normalization” of relationships between the Israeli government and other governments.” That any organization can be against coexistence between Israel and its Arab neighbors is despicable and says much about its attitudes more broadly. That it only boycotts Israel and not Iran, North Korea or Saudi Arabia points to a decidedly antisemitic core.
The DSA chapter in New York City asked candidates to pledge to not even visit Israel and see firsthand what is happening, and blindly follow Palestinian propaganda. The questionnaire asked “Do you pledge not to travel to Israel if elected to City Council in solidarity with Palestinians living under occupation? Even though foreign policy falls outside the purview of municipal government, gestures like travel to a country by elected officials from a city the size and prominence of New York still send a powerful message, as would the refusal to participate in them,” acknowledging that the politician’s job as a local elected official had nothing to do with Israel but the group still wanted to broadcast its loathsome opinions. Even left-wing politicians like State Senator Brad Hoylman said the question about Israel was “repugnant.“
Withholding Protection of Jews and Open Season on Jews
In June 2023, DSA tweeted that “in a settler colonial context there are no such things as “civilians”, but disregarding that even, it’s total folly to honestly compare settlers perpetuating pogroms to resistance groups deploying violence to liberate themselves.” Note that the Palestinian narrative considers all of Israel to be a settlement, and thereby calls the presence of any Jew to be a member of the military and fair target for violence. Rep. Ritchie Torres was apoplectic and rebuked the DSA for “declaring them [Jews] fair game for violence and terror.“
Three of the extremist members of the radical anti-Zionist left, Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Jamaal Bowman
In August 2023, the DSA held its convention in Chicago when it considered how far to lean into condemning Jews and the Jewish State and calling for violence on both. It opted to stay more mainstream and remain part of the Democratic Party and criticize Israel, rather than break off into a completely new political party and go full jihadi.
A writer on the World Socialist Web Site wrote that the action was deeply disappointing to many in attendance, in failing to even bring the resolution to the floor. “In rejecting the proposed amendment, the DSA has resolved to support Democratic Party politicians no matter how right-wing they are and has explicitly stated its hostility to socialism. The rejected amendment would have required the DSA hold its members “accountable” if they “vote for measures which expand or strengthen the police,” “vote for any restrictions on the independent action of the working class, such as the right to strike,” or “vote for military budgets, the imperial war machine, or military aid to US client states such as the apartheid state of Israel.””
It is likely that had the group voted on the resolution it would have passed. While an independent DSA party would likely have weakened its position politically around the country, it would have freed it to openly air its antisemitic preferences.
The leaders of the DSA tactically decided to stay within the Democratic Party and advance its anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist narrative inside party ranks. While slower to advance extremist ideas, it positions the group to gain power politically much faster.
The dike that has held back the cesspool of antisemitism is being gnawed at by radical extremists infiltrating politics, and their potential success would drown the largest Jewish community in the diaspora.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is not just a favorite of the alt-left; she is the cash register.
In the 2022 election cycle, AOC raised and spent way more than any other candidate running for congress from New York State, a whopping $9.9 million. As the incumbent, she had no primary challenger and easily defeated her Republican challenger in a deeply blue district.
So AOC spends her time and resources to back other far left-wing colleagues in other districts to further empower her and spread her radical policies in districts which do have such values.
She has started in NY District 16, where fellow extremist Jamaal Bowman has a tenuous seat in lower Westchester County, having been bumped out of the Bronx in redistricting last year. She has started with tweets this week to raise money for the unpopular Bowman.
The ad is a long string of lies and misdirection.
AIPAC. Why start an ad against a bipartisan pro-Israel group? Because the essence of what AOC and Bowman represent is hyper-partisan anti-Israel legislation.
Establishment executive. Bowman is the multi-term incumbent! He’s the powerful member of congress whom AOC is trying to reframe as the underdog fighting the “establishment.” It’s code for a race war, where the “establishment executive” is a White man trying to take on a Black man.
Brother in The Bronx. District 16 is 97% comprised of lower Westchester. There is only a small nub of the district in the Bronx. Both AOC and Bowman are wildly out-of-touch with the values of lower Westchester County.
Funneling dark money. It is AOC who is the big megaphone and cash register coming from outside District 16, not AIPAC. AIPAC has many enthusiastic backers in the district.
Target… working class candidates of color. AOC has gone full race war. She accuses the pro-Israel organization of being racist when they are nothing of the sort. AIPAC and its sister group, Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) are anti-Bowman because he stands against Israel not because of his race. Both groups support Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY15) in the neighboring district who is Black, Hispanic and gay. They supported Mondaire Jones who used to represent NY16, who is also Black and gay. They did so because of their pro-Israel records. Vilifying them as racist is not just slander but highlights AOC’s racism against a White person having the temerity to challenge a powerful Black incumbent.
Misleading attack ads. Bowman has a long history of terrible policies, votes and actions in office, all public. Airing his record is a public service (short recap below) and not at all misleading.
Undermine democracy. AOC is using her big name, reach and bags of money to back a candidate in a different district to undermine the will of the people in the district. Who is undermining democracy?
Contribute $5. This is a way of making the movement seem like a working-class, grass roots initiative when it is nothing of the sort. AOC is the money king, deceiving people as she buys another seat in congress to cement her power.
The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission is chaired by Ken Jenkins, a Democrat who lives in NY16. He has been given the green light by the courts to redraw district lines and may do so to put Bowman back in the Bronx where his voice is more in tune with the local choir, and out of lower Westchester which despises his policies.
The essence of AOC and Jamaal Bowman is hyper-partisan, left-wing anti-Israel policies, and they are embarking on a vicious race war to tear down a peaceful multi-ethnic community to maintain their grips on power and money.
A short recap of why Bowman is out of touch with Westchester voters:
Supports “Defund the police”
Supports “Abolishing ICE”
Supports Critical Race Theory in schools
Supports a broad redistribution of wealth, including payments to Black people for historic slavery
Supports packing the Supreme Court
Supports abandoning the electoral college
Lies to constituents about backing the Infrastructure bill
Lies to constituents about mainly taking small donations
Lies to constituents that he brings money into the district when almost all of it went to New York City
Hypocrite attacking fellow Democrats for not backing Infrastructure bill and then he voted against it
Anti-charter schools
Anti-capitalism
Called for taxing unrealized capital gains
Anti- Abraham Accords extending peace in the Middle East
Boycotted liberal Israeli president speech to Congress
Penned resolution to call founding of Israel a “catastrophe”
Blamed USA for the problems in Central America
Strange coziness with the government of China
Backed by extremist alt-left and anti-Israel groups
One of the least partisan members of congress
Contempt for moderate voters
Perpetual race baiter
ACTION ITEM
Email Ken Jenkins at kjenkins@westchestercountyny.gov or call (914) 995-2909 “NY16 does not want Jamaal Bowman as its congressman. Riverdale didn’t want him two years ago either. Do not protect him in redistricting.”
New York State’s 16th Congressional District is made up of lower Westchester County and a small nub of the Bronx
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) is a slick promoter who markets himself as an educator working for the working class who will not play games with Republican politicians.
In truth, he lives the game of politics, and it is well beyond a focus on Republicans as he plays games with antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Reacting to his own insulting boycott of a bipartisan and bicameral invitation to Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressing a joint session of Congress, and fellow left-wing extremist Rep. Pramila Jaypal (D-WA07) calling Israel is a racist state, Bowman tweeted that he voted against a resolution condemning antisemitism because of Republican “idiotic games.”
Note that Jaypal herself posted a lengthy release about her poorly chosen words that Israel is a racist state. Her 414-word statement affirmed her belief that “words do matter and so it is important that I clarify my statement.“
Almost every Democrat joined all Republicans in backing the resolution, except for the radical left-wing fringe that is adamant about playing with the toxic hatred in the Middle East.
Almost every Democrat joined all Republicans to attend the speech by a liberal pro-peace leader in the Middle East.
The contingent that instead chose to play politics was Bowman and the Squad.
This is not new to Bowman.
Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic
Bowman has a long history of voting against Jews and the Jewish State:
Would not sign letter to Department of Education to fight antisemitism at colleges (February 4, 2022)
Original sponsor of resolution calling the founding of Israel a “catastrophe” (May 17, 2022)
Does not recognize discrimination against Jews (March 9, 2023)
Authored letter to President Biden to condition aid to Israel (April 23, 2023)
Voted against the Abraham Accords (April 25, 2023)
Voted against condemning antisemitism, and that Israel isn’t a racist state (July 18, 2023)
Boycotted speech by the Israeli president to a joint session of Congress (July 19, 2023)
Bowman takes these positions because radicals fund him. They are his real constituents.
On September 20, 2021, Bowman thanked the radical anti-Israel group, IfNotNow for their “partnership.” His top donors in the 2021-2 election cycle were another anti-Israel group, J Street, and the powerful leaders controlling schools, the American Federation of Teachers and the City University of New York, which has become a hotbed of rampant antisemitism and anti-Zionism. He is also a top recipient of money from Justice Democrats, a radical group backing alt-left politicians.
Bowman believes that liberal Jews will look past his nods to antisemitism and insults to Israel if they value the embrace of intersectionality more than from fellow Jews and Zionists. He is leaning into the cleft opening among American Jews, betting he can divide the most persecuted minority in America.
It is an ugly game that not only fans the flames of Jew hatred globally but pits Jews against themselves.
And there’s a big pot of money at the end of the anti-Jewish rainbow, a trough from which Bowman plans to feed.
In the aftermath of The Great War, Germans fought amongst themselves in local riots trying to attain power amidst the highest inflation in years. Disgruntled masses used their new democratic rights to air radical views, as the rulers in their defeated lands were cast as failed and incompetent.
The phobia of the middle class was fertile soil for agitators. Activists took to printing fliers and giving speeches in beer halls to instigate the mob.
Adolf Hitler was among them, part of the German Worker’s Party, later to become the most infamous.
Hitler’s provocative nature got him into arguments with small groups at the time but by the following year, he was addressing thousands.
On February 24, 1920, Hitler took the stage at the Hofbrauhaus beer hall in Munich and addressed nearly 2,000 people. He laid out his 25-point plan designed to empower the labor movement. It called for a right to work, seizing profits and income that did not come from work, a redistribution of profits, an end to the dominance of capitalism, a large welfare state, and a remaking of the educational system.
The plan also zeroed in on Jews and immigrants. It declared that no Jew is or can be a German and therefore all are ineligible for citizenship. It labeled Jews as inherently materialistic and opposed to everything which Germany stood for. It sought to stop immigration of non-Germans.
As part of the platform, Hitler called for a control of the press which he said spread lies. He demanded that only those he deemed as “German” could be writers and own financial interests in the press.
While Hitler’s speech was initially heckled, by the end of the talk, the crowd cheered. They embraced his call for a revolution to end capitalism, redistribute wealth, remake the educational system, seize control of the press and expunge the Jews.
The movement gained momentum and followers, so changed its name to a national organization, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party. By the 1930s, the party grew to 400,000 people and would soon gain seats in government. It removed Jews from positions in government, lines of business and seized their property. Within a decade, it launched a war which killed millions, including one-third of Europe’s Jews.
Democratic Socialists of America, Working Families Party, Justice Democrats 2017-Present
In the United States, the Working Families Party has been around since 1998, fielding far left-wing candidates, while sometimes backing more “mainstream” Democratic candidates aligned with many of its views, such as Massachusetts’s Senator Elizabeth Warren. It has many overlaps with the Democratic Socialists of America, seeing the core of their beliefs in socialism. Their common goal to “achieve equitable distribution of resources” is deeply anti-capitalist. Their champion is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders who frequently derides capitalism.
The extreme left-wing did not have sway in politics until the arrival of Donald Trump to the presidency. His election launched a countering force in a new powerful group called Justice Democrats in January 2017. In the 2018 election cycle it fielded 12 candidates including Alexandria Ocasio Cortez who won in New York. Six other endorsed candidates also won.
The platform of the Justice Democrats includes several items which ring familiar from Hitler’s platform a century earlier. It includes: a redistribution of wealth in “reclaim[ing] lost capital and put money back in the pockets of hard-working Americans” because “growing disparities in income and wealth among our nation’s people have long-term impacts on our population“; “Enact[ing] a Federal Jobs Guarantee“; vilifying the government in a call to “Abolish ICE” because “it has turned into a state-funded terror group“, among other demands.
The progressive fringe were open about their plans for wealth redistribution in 2019. While running for president, Democrat Bill De Blasio said “There’s plenty of money in this city. It’s just in the wrong hands.” The goal was to seize wealth from those deemed undeserving and transfer it to working families, a clear effort to buy votes with illegal theft.
While the radical groups began to coalesce into a force during the Trump administration, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-1 instilled a greater sense of government incompetence and fear of one’s neighbors actually being able to kill them and their parents with their physical presence. As in the high inflationary post-World War I Germany, the riots about police brutality and COVID ushered in a ripe market for political agitators. The backdrop enabled the alt-left extremists to gather more power in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles. New members of congress like Rashia Tlaib (D-MI) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) came to power with the backing of the radical rhetoric to “defund the police”, change schools by teaching critical race theory, and push a massive effort to redistribute wealth.
Where today’s American Socialists and the Nazis differ is regarding immigrants. The American left-wing fringe views them as the core of “working families”, whereas they label Whites as inherently racist. However, the Jews are viewed with identical disdain, the elite and capitalist among the White racist class.
The Center of Intersectionality- Antisemitic Muslim Women of Color
The far left-wing backing the “average working person” as a person of color has led to its candidates being almost exclusively non-White. While they may sometimes support slightly more mainstream politicians like Senators Warren (D-MA) and Sanders (D-VT), the movement is driven by minorities.
The most vocal anti-Semites in this alt-left fringe are Muslim Women. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) are the most prominent and powerful, having national platforms in congress. New York City Council member Shahana Hanif is a local politician in the largest and most Jewish city in America, while other agitators include Linda Sarsour, Zahra Billoo and recent CUNY law graduate Fatima Mohammed. More than only advancing the “burn it down” mentality, they advocate a revolution which targets Jews as the enemy.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
Rashida Tlaib is a Palestinian-American Muslim woman representing Michigan’s 12th district since 2019. Her shrill voice in congress started immediately as she declared that “we’re going to impeach the motherf*cker,” referring to President Trump. Her zealous attacks have also come for Israel, with lies that it commits “apartheid.” She proposed several anti-Israel pieces of legislation and advocates for the destruction of the Jewish State with tweets “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” She has even demanded an Israel litmus test for anyone to be included in the progressive camp.
Omar’s comments continued to inflame people when she dismissed the radical jihadists who killed nearly 3,000 people on 9/11/2011 with a passing “some people did something,” and later compared the terrorist groups Hamas and the Taliban to Israel and the United States. She has also yelled at people who do not label Israel as an “apartheid” state, saying “they need to get on the right side of history.” She attacks her attackers by claiming that they are racist, misogynistic and Islamophobes, to deflect from her own ingrained racism and antisemitism.
Linda Sarsour is not an elected official but hobnobs with many. She’s led the Women’s March and is a loud voice alternately yelling disgusting and stupid lies that Israel is an apartheid state and that Jesus was a Palestinian. She’s vilified Zionism, tweeting “nothing is creepier than Zionism. Challenge racism.” She has sided with the terrorist group Hamas, and argued that people shouldn’t “humanize” Israelis.
Zahra Billoo (CAIR)
Zahra Billoo serves as the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR). She has said that “Israel is an apartheid, racist, terrorist state and it commits war crimes as a hobby.” She gave a speech that the Jewish State is backed by all sorts of Jews, even progressives who claim to be friends by are really the enemy: “Know your enemies, and I’m not going to sugar-coat that. They are your enemies. There are organizations and infrastructure out there who are working to harm you. Make no mistake of it. They would sell you down the line if they could, and they very often do behind your back. I mean the Zionist organizations, I mean the foreign policy organizations that say they’re not Zionists but want a two-state solution. I’m not a Palestinian myself but it’s my understanding that that is laughable. So know your enemies.… We need to pay attention to the Anti-Defamation League. We need to pay attention to the Jewish Federation. We need to pay attention to the Zionist synagogues. We need to pay attention to the Hillel chapters on our campuses. Because just because they’re your friend today, doesn’t mean that they have your back when it comes to human rights. So oppose the vehement fascists but oppose the polite Zionists too. They are not your friends.“
Fatima Mohammed (CUNY Law)
Fatima Mohammed is just a recent graduate from law school but is emblematic of the problem. She gave graduation remarks at CUNY Law School where she said they all needed to “fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism, and Zionism around the world,” and students needed to “speak out against Israeli settler colonialism.” She received sustained applause throughout her remarks.
The obvious should be stated that not all Muslim women are antisemitic or anti-Israel. Similarly, many of the shrill antisemitic and anti-Zionist voices of the progressive wing are not coming from Muslims or women, such as Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA7).
1930s Nazi Party and 2020s Progressive Wing
The core of the intersectional left SOUNDS a lot like the Nazi party of 100 years ago, even while LOOKING completely different.
Both are deeply anticapitalism, for a redistribution of wealth to the average working person, and reworking the education system and media to adhere to a new orthodoxy. The Nazis saw the average working person as a White Aryan, while today’s Democratic Socialists see that person as a Black or Brown minority. Both the 1930s German Socialists and 2020s American Socialists think of the Jews in their midst as part of the problem, a slice of the global elite taking from the common man for their own selfish wants, despite any protestation otherwise.
The world witnessed the horrors of German socialists gaining power with their extremist vitriol and policies aimed to divide people. It watched as people went from heckling horrible views to applauding the audible bile, to voting the extremists into power to enact terrible policies masquerading as simple measures to empower the common man.
We are seeing history repeat and are dismissive of the tide, blind to the undertow which will sweep us from view and drown us before long.
You decided to boycott liberal Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s speech to a joint session of congress, and tweeted about the need for a “true two-state solution” in the Middle East:
“A true two-state solution is the pathway towards peace and security for all in the region. It’s way past time that we stop using a two state solution as a talking point and actually get it done.“
You ignore the fact that Palestinians do not want a two state solution, do not support the Palestinian Authority, want to wage a violent jihad against Israel, and support terrorist groups. According to the latest June 2023 poll by the Palestinian Center of Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR):
Only 28% of Palestinians support a two state solution; opposition stands at 70%
53% support a return to an armed intifada
71% support the establishment of new armed groups such as Lion’s Den and Jenin Brigades
58% believe that armed groups will spread to the rest of the West Bank
86% say the Palestinian Authority (PA) does not have the right to arrest members of these armed groups
63% say the PA is a burden on the Palestinian people
Satisfaction with President Abbas stands at 17% and 80% want him to resign
In theoretical elections between Fatah’s President Abbas and the political-terrorist group Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh wins 56% to Abbas 33%
57% of Palestinian support armed attacks against Jewish civilians inside Israel
66% of Palestinians believe Israel will cease to exist in the next 25 years, and 51% believe that Arabs will be able to recover the entire land
That is the current reality.
Three of the ten Palestinian Arab terrorists recently killed in Jenin were under 18 years old and members of terrorist groups, a heinous war crime of indoctrinating and drafting children for terror. That is the dreadful reality.
The President of the PA wrote his doctoral thesis on Holocaust denial, and openly rewards terrorists with money. An astounding 58% of the current Palestinian parliament is from Hamas, a United States designated foreign terrorist organization. That’s the frightening reality.
PA President Abbas’s four-year term ran out in January 2009. He has no support from Palestinians. He doesn’t even control Gaza. There is no counterparty for Israel to negotiate with who can deliver on peace and stand up a new country. That’s the plain reality.
The majority of Palestinians are planning for, and looking forward to, the destruction of Israel. They are not interested in coexistence, peace talks or negotiations. That is the raw reality.
Punishing Israel for Arab extremism is blinding oneself to the unvarnished reality of Palestinian sentiments, and inviting jihadi violence on an enormous scale. Boycotting Israel and its leadership feeds the genocidal aspirations of radical Islamists and destroys the possibility of an enduring peace.
J Street, the Pro-Palestinian Jewish group which markets itself as pro-Israel, was the leading donor to Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s (D-NY16) 2022 race for congress. It proudly touted that it poured $100,000 into Bowman’s campaign in August 2022, even though he was a shoe-in as an incumbent in a primary race with multiple candidates. The extreme left-wing group had taken Bowman on a visit to Israel in 2021 and doubled down on its investment.
J Street’s activities with Bowman is seemingly worthless, as it cannot get the congressman to attend liberal Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of congress next week.
Herzog is a J Street favorite. The group congratulated him on his appointment in 2021, writing “We have deeply appreciated our engagement and relationship with President-elect Herzog over the years, during his tenure as chairman of the Israeli Labor Party, as Knesset opposition leader and as Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel. It has been our honor to host him for addresses at several J Street conferences and to meet with him regularly with J Street delegations visiting Israel.” Herzog has shown his appreciation to J Street, giving televised addresses to the group’s large gatherings.
If J Street cannot get an alt-left congressman which it heavily supported to attend a speech by a liberal Israeli president, there is only one conclusion: Bowman’s anti-Israel sentiments are so profound that he cannot even accept talking to liberal Jews or Israelis. It remains to be seen if he will start to reject their money.
ACTION ITEM
EMAIL J STREET: “If you cannot get Rep. Jamaal Bowman to attend Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of congress, we expect the organization to back his primary rival next year.”
EMAIL REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN: “Israeli President Isaac Herzog is a liberal pro-peace activist. Boycotting him along with radical colleagues is not a protest against Israel but against coexistence.”
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) told left-wing Israeli media Haaretz that he will be boycotting Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress next week. He offered “I’ve been very outspoken regarding the treatment of Palestinians. The United States is important in ensuring accountability and uplifting the human rights of Palestinians.”
It is a remarkable statement in light of Palestinian polls showing the prevailing attitude pushing for violence rather than peace.
In June 2023, Palestinians said the two most positive Palestinian events since the “Nakba,” the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 were the creation of the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the first and second Intifadas. A majority support another intifada and 57% support or strongly support killing Jewish civilians inside of Israel.
Not only is Bowman ignoring Palestinian thirst for Jewish blood, he is choosing to boycott a left-wing leader Israeli leader, who speaks to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas frequently. Such action sets back the cause of peace and empowers the Islamic Republic of Iran.
ACTION ITEM
EMAIL REP. BOWMAN “Israeli President Isaac Herzog is in favor of peace and dialogue with Palestinians. A decision to boycott him is not just an insult to the Jewish State and to a future of peace with Palestinians but is a vote to empower the dangerous genocidal regime in Iran.”
Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY17) has been very active supporting his constituents, particularly those interested in combatting antisemitism and promoting peace in the Middle East.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY17)
It may make him a target of powerful left-wing politicians in New York State.
Lawler: Pro Peace and Bi-Partisan
On June 12, 2023, Lawler took to the House floor to promote a bill he co-sponsored with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY15). He spoke about H.R.3099 to create a “special envoy for the Abraham Accords in the U.S. Department of State… to coordinate efforts across the United States government to expand and strengthen the Abraham Accords with key allies and strategic partners… making clear that the United States government prioritizes our relationship with Israel and the advancement of peace and prosperity.”
Rep. Torres also took the floor and discussed the bill he co-sponsored and led with the importance of bipartisanship. “I want to thank the gentleman from New York, Mike Lawler, for his legislative partnership and leadership. If there is one cause that should transcend partisanship, it is the cause of peace in the Middle East. Building a bridge between Israel and the Arab world is neither a Democratic value nor a Republican value; it is an American value.”
Lawler concurs, and is proud of his willingness to work with Democrats saying “you need to be able to build relationships within your own conference and across the aisle, especially coming from a district like mine. My objective is to get things done.”
Not everyone agrees.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, the anti-Israel and Jew-ambivalent congressman whose district sits between Lawler and Torres, voted against the measure. Bowman is among the most partisan members of Congress, almost never voting with Republicans, ranking #396 out of 435 by the Lugar bipartisanship index.
Bowman is the male version of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (ranked #401 by the Lugar Index), part of the emerging extremist wing taking over the Democratic party. They are the anti-Lawlers, highly partisan and anti-Israel.
Lawler: Fighting Antisemitism
Lawler has been active fighting for peace elsewhere.
On June 1, 2023, he introduced legislation, H.R.3773, to rescind federal funding for colleges that promote antisemitism on their campuses. It was drafted in reaction to the horrible wave of antisemitic incidents taking place on City of New York (CUNY) and State of New York (SUNY) college campuses. Lawler said that “CUNY should be ashamed of itself for allowing insidious anti-semitism to permeate on its campuses, and my bill will ensure they face stiff penalties if they continue to let hate have a home.”
Unfortunately, Jew hatred has been given a home in New York by the growing horde of left-wing radicals.
How sad and frightening that condemning Jew hatred has become a partisan issue.
Lawler: In the Democratic Crosshairs
In the 2022 elections, Lawler defeated Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. With his powerful position, Maloney poured $6.7 million into his losing campaign to Lawler who barely spent $1.5 million. The loss was a stinging embarrassment for New York Democrats, and helped the Republicans take a majority of the House.
The powerful Democratic machine is now intent on taking out this Republican, with millions of dollars in negative ads with fake news about him being deeply unpopular, as well as actions hidden from sight, through the most partisan of actions, the gerrymander.
New York’s new liberal court may soon take the pen and rework district lines to make Lawler vulnerable, as he only won with only a 2,000 vote margin in 2022. Slight alterations to his district lines could make his tenure in congress very short.
Democrats will soon decide whether they care more about power and politics in using gerrymandering to try to oust Rep. Lawler, or working for a future of peace and bipartisanship.
I am not optimistic.
ACTION ITEM
EMAIL GOVERNOR HOCHUL: “Do not gerrymander NY17, Mike Lawler’s district. The courts put forward a fair New York map in 2022 and we do not want to see a bipartisan, pro-peace, fighter against antisemitism be removed from Congress with political trickery.”
On March 9, 2023, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) spoke in Congress about his views on discrimination, specifically against what he thought were attempts to harm the transgender community with a proposed bill to prevent trans-women from competing in sports against biological women. He spoke about the history of discrimination in the United States saying “whether they are Black, Latino, Asian, LGBTQ, poor, people with disabilities, women, we have an ugly history of discrimination in this country.”
In calling out eight groups of people facing discrimination, he omitted the most targeted people of hate crimes: Jews.
Not only did Bowman ignore the most prevalent form of hate crimes in his denouncement of discrimination, he implied that most of the offenders are White. Meanwhile, according to FBI statistics, it is Black people who are disproportionately the attackers of the LGBT community, accounting for 27.2% of such hate crimes even though they are 13.6% of the overall population.
Bowman’s antisemitism and race baiting is so ingrained, that he cannot fathom facts, and instead promotes himself with political theater performed for a narrow slice of his constituents.
A mural in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, NY, which was meant to celebrate Black history has instead become a symbol of the Black community’s anti-Jewish sentiments: that the rise in Black power will come at the expense of Jews.
Farrakhan in Greenburgh
Louis Farrakhan is a notorious antisemite and Black supremacist. He is the current leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI), which the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) – a group devoted to defending Black people – labels as a hate group where “seeds of antisemitism are deeply rooted.” It listed just a few of his vile comments such as calling Hitler “a very great man” and Judaism a “dirty religion,” but the list is extensive. At a rally in 2020, he said “Those of you that say that you are Jews, I will not even give you the honor of calling you a Jew. You’re not a Jew. You’re so-called. You’re Satan. And it’s my job now to pull the cover off of Satan.”
A portrait of Farrakhan is now in public, on government property, paid for by local Westchester taxpayers.
In response to the Black Lives Matter movement, the town of Greenburgh hired a local artist to paint a mural on Manhattan Avenue on Black history. The town approved the initial sketches but town supervisors were later upset to see that the final version included Farrakhan, with hand raised, screaming over the U.S. Capital building. On August 25, 2022, the town said that it “voted to remove the unauthorized imagery. The Artist has agreed that Louis Farrakhan will be taken off of the mural and the image will be removed this week.” That never happened as the pictures above attest (taken June 9, 2023). Instead a barrier was placed at the platform’s stairs making it difficult for people to ascend to view the mural up close, while the platform’s rails obstruct the view for passers-by.
Black Westchester Magazine wrote an article about the mural and defended it with arguments that Farrakhan was an instrumental part of fighting for Black rights, and as there was no specific commentary against Jews in the mural, Jews should not get overly offended. The author added that he would be more sympathetic to Jews if they spoke out forcefully when Blacks were offended, curiously making sympathy an emotion with preconditions.
A few months later, in December 2022, the New Rochelle Public Library hosted an event to discuss Black-on-Black gun violence after a local rapper was shot and killed in October. Two politicians attended, including Council Member Yadira Ramos-Herbert who is running to be the next Mayor of New Rochelle and former New Rochelle Board of Education President Lianne Merchant who is running to replace Ramos-Herbert as the representative for Council District 3. Several speakers took the stage including NAACP President Minister Mark McLean, New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority Executive Director Angela Farrish and City of New Rochelle Director of Economic Development Jorge Ventura.
Then Brother Arthur Muhammad of the Nation of Islam and a “drill team” performed. They recommended that the “FOI” – Fruit of Islam, the armed wing of the Nation of Islam – manage New Rochelle’s streets. They chanted “War! War! Farrakhan! Salute Elijah! Raise Front Farrakhan! There’s a time for peace, there’s a time for war! Hear the guards! Hear the guards knocking at your door! You need the FOI to the day we die!”
Members of the Nation of Islam at the New Rochelle Public Library, December 2022
As described by the “Talk of the Sound”, The Fruit of Islam (FOI) is the security and disciplinary wing of the Nation of Islam (NOI). It has also been described as its paramilitary wing. The FOI was created at the founding of the Nation of Islam and existed until the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975 when it was disbanded. The FOI was reestablished by Louis Farrakhan with him as Commander-in-Chief.
Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY16)
Jamaal Bowman is the congressman who now serves the newly redrawn NY District 16 which covers lower Westchester County. He won principally on the strength of the turnout in the predominantly Black areas, including Greenburgh where the Farrkhan mural hangs in public. While that town is less than half the population of the city of Yonkers, it had more votes in the Democratic primary, with 8.1% of the residents coming out to vote, a remarkable 20% of all primary voters. Bowman’s tally in Greenburgh, Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle (13,918) was more than enough to sail to victory in 2022.
On June 6, 2023, Bowman endorsed Working Families Party candidate for New Rochelle mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert. She was one of the attendees at the New Rochelle Public Library as the Nation of Islam performed who has refused to comment about the event.
Bowman has a long history of upsetting his Jewish constituents, both within the former contours of District 16 and in the current borders of lower Westchester. He has failed to support resolutions condemning antisemitism and supported anti-Israel initiatives. In 2020, he replaced Jewish congressman Eliot Engel in the Bronx, and Bowman now serves the region which had been represented by Jewish congresswoman Nita Lowey for decades.
Lower Westchester County is home to some of the wealthiest towns in the country, including Scarsdale, Bronxville and Larchmont. It is also becoming the home of left-wing and radical Muslim extremism, as those communities put forward extremist candidates in local elections (like those backed by the Working Families Party), and organize to get out the vote, as much of the county ignores local primaries – next one on June 27 – to their own detriment.
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