While many primary races are too close to call, due to large numbers of uncounted absentee ballots, Jamaal Bowman scored a decisive upset in his race to replace veteran Cingresman Elliot Engel, chair of the House Foreigh affairs Committee.
Jamaal is/was a middle school principal who was active in the opt out movement. He received the endorsement of AOC, Sanders, Warren, and many others, including me.
Here is the speech he gave when his victory appeared certain.
Jamaal will be a strong, clear, and informed voice for the voiceless in Congress.
Great grass roots moment.
Most profound statement: “Poverty is by political design.”
AOC + Jamaal = The Bronx is Bern-ing.
When the final vote is official – The Squad will become a Squadron.
The price of Bowmans victory will be paid in Jewish blood in the State of Israel. His anti Israel positions are extreme. Engel supported the only Jewish State and his loss is truly a “shonda” (Yiddish for disgrace)
Bowman from an interview with Jacobin magazine:
“We have to have honest conversations about the humanitarian crisis taking place through the occupation of the Palestinian people. It’s a crisis that America has been complicit in through bolstering Netanyahu and his far-right government while doing next-to-nothing in terms of holding him accountable. He’s a mini-Trump who warned of ‘Arab turnout’ at the polls and brags about building a wall.
“As Netanyahu calls for expanding settlements and annexing the West Bank, we should seriously consider placing conditions on the billions of dollars of military aid our government provides him in order to make sure that the rights and dignity of both the Israeli and Palestinian people are respected. I just don’t understand why American taxpayers are subsidizing the detention of Palestinian children while Democrats are criticizing child detention at the Mexican border. The principles of the Leahy Law should be upheld.
“But we have to think about this in the bigger picture. We need to stand up to far-right authoritarian leaders rising across the world, not cozy up to them, whether that’s in Saudi Arabia, Europe, India, or Israel. It’s a fight between leaders who are dividing people up and leaders who are bringing people together around a common purpose.”
It seems the shanda is that Bowman sees the people in the Middle East, regardless of who they are, as human beings with human rights. Not as predator and prey. And he’s going to be a needed, strong voice for the education issues most of us here hold dearly. If that’s the case, I wish him well should he serve in Congress.
There is no occupation. There was never a country called Palestine. There has been a significant Jewish presence on this land since the beginning of recorded history. The Zionist movement brought the return of many Jews, Including many expelled from neighboring Mideast countries. In 1948, The so-called Palestinians led by Hitler ally the grand Mufti of Jerusalem rejected a partition deal the Jews accepted. The Palestinians were advised by their leaders to abandon their homes – temporarily – and they would return once the massed Arab armies would drive the Jews into the sea. In a modern miracle the Jews defeated them in 1948, again in 1967, again in 1973. Again through decades of Arab terroism.. Repeated efforts by Israel for compromise thwarted bu this simple truth – the so-called Palestinians refuse to acknowledge that Israel is a Jewish State. Rather than compromise, generation after generation of refugees have been given eternal refugee status. Israel voluntarily gave up Gaza only to see it turned into a launch pad for terror missiles.
That is the Palestine of Jamaal Bowman and hiS BLM allies who defeated the effective but colorless Eliot Engel. The result puts lifelong Jewish Democrats like myself the distasteful alternative of voting for Trump, as a safeguard for Israel and it’s enemies like AOC, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Jamaal Bowman.
🙄
Thanks for that citation, Greg.
I was with a group of young volunteers who were handing out pro-Bowman material in Riverdale, an area friendly to Eliot Engel. This was a day or two after he had started carpet bombing mail boxes in his district to raise doubts about Mr. Bowman’s record and character.
One of these glossies said “We need a pro-Israel congressman.” That left me infer this would be Engel rather than Bowman. But the message seemed transparently meant to be a trigger to voters who might be responsive to suggestions of anti-Semitism. You know, anyone who is less than 100% in support of Israel’s positions gets that scarlet letter.
It’s a cheap-shot, knee-jerk negative attack that often works. So, boom! A 60-ish man wearing a yarmulke walks by. One of the volunteers asks if he will be voting in the primary for Jamaal Bowman. “I will never vote for that anti-Semite,” he barks.
Even though he’s decided, I’m indignant. I ask the gentleman if he’s read the Torah recently. “Did you skip the part about the Prophets and social justice?” Maybe not tactful on my part, but I couldn’t help myself.
Speaking of anti-Semites, Fred:
thank you: so often “honest conversations” is written as “completely anti-Israel”
The Jewish people I know who vote Republican claim they are supporting Israel. I don’t believe them. The “religious” who vote Republican claim they are pro-life. I don’t believe them. There’s one reason people vote Republican- to maintain financial privilege.
Votes for Dem establishment candidates against progressives- the same analysis as above applies.
In America, capitalism has become synonymous with colonialism. Lincoln warned the nation against the threat.
A very good friend of mine who passed away a few years ago was an Orthodox Jew who voted straight Republican because of their so-called support of Israel. When I reminded him that evangelicals who swoon over Israel support did so because they wanted to speed up the Rapture and that once it came, according to them, “Jews would be the first to go straight to hell,” he didn’t disagree with me. But he still felt the existence of Israel as a state was paramount to any concerns about morality with respect to Palestinians or theology. It was pretty much the only thing we agreed to disagree about.
I am a secular Jew and I support Israel’s right to live in peace. I do not support the expansionism of the Netanyahu government. I don’t think Israel should ever take sides in internal American politics.
One of the things the press doesn’t ever mention about Bowman is how he stood up for true ed reform against the DOE goons. He worked under the Bloomberg and diB admins and very few principals stood against high stakes testing, favored opt out, stood with teachers — his first supporters came from the NYC ed activists who had been battling the DOE since Bloomberg came into control. With so many issues on the table I still have hope Jamaal will find time to keep some of the core ed issues front and center. And for those who think he will succumb to Pelosi “charms” like AOC has sort of done, Carmen Farina is much more scary that Pelosi and Jamaal didn’t flinch.
Encouraging! Thank you New Yorkers and your immigrant, Diane Ravitch, for making the rest of us around the country aware of him and his works.
“And for those who think he will succumb to Pelosi “charms” like AOC has sort of done…”
This is why the Democrats lose and the country – despite the majority of Americans being progressive to moderate — has a federal government where the far right is so empowered that Attorney General William Barr simply allows cronies of the President to get off. The far right is so empowered that it is entirely possible that the Republicans will disenfranchise huge numbers of voters without the democrats being able to do anything at all to stop it.
AOC never “succumbed” to Pelosi’s charms. She understood the difference between promoting the progressive agenda — which is what she did loudly and strongly — and doing the bidding of the far right propagandists and demonizing Pelosi. One can disagree on policy and decisions without making people who agree with you on many issues into something “scary”. It’s shocking to see AOC being dissed that way. It’s exactly why democrats lose elections — voters who have been brainwashed into believing that there is absolutely no difference with both sides “succumbing” to the orders of their corporate masters equally so it’s no big deal to empower far right wing white supremacist Republicans.
I am thrilled that Jamaal Bowman won and that he will join AOC to fight progressive battles. They won’t win them all right away, but they will win some and the country will begin to move in the progressive direction that leads to them eventually winning most of them. And if Jamaal works with Pelosi – as Bernie Sanders has – on some issues where they find agreement, that’s okay, too. He isn’t succumbing to her charms – he is getting things done.
Less shedding of Palestinian blood, you mean.
https://mondoweiss.net/2020/06/apparent-bowman-victory-over-engel-is-a-monumental-collapse-for-israel-lobby/
However, Bowman’s official platform firmly places him within the most progressive circle of current Democratic Members of Congress and is worth quoting in detail:
We must also have honest conversations about our government’s role in enabling the continued occupation of the Palestinian people. Our taxpayer dollars should not be going toward subsidizing settlement expansion, home demolitions, the detention of Palestinian children, or in any way supporting the threatened Israeli “annexation” of the West Bank. Past presidents like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush used our financial leverage to promote peace in the region as well. We must ensure that U.S. support is used to address the very real security threats Israel faces, not to entrench the occupation.
The fact that pro-Israel PAC’s, including Republican Super PAC’s, spent millions of dollars in a futile attempt to stave off Bowman’s momentum and apparent victory is a humiliation for the Israel lobby. More importantly, this signals to Democrats that they do not need to fear the purported power of the Israel lobby any longer, and that they can speak to and reflect the growing base of support for Palestinian rights within the base of the party even in a contest against an old-school Democratic Party stalwart supporter of Israel like EngLe.
The only disgrace is that Israel is led by a goniff named Neytanyahu.
However, Bowman’s official platform firmly places him within the most progressive circle of current Democratic Members of Congress and is worth quoting in detail:
The fact that pro-Israel PAC’s, including Republican Super PAC’s, spent millions of dollars in a futile attempt to stave off Bowman’s momentum and apparent victory is a humiliation for the Israel lobby. More importantly, this signals to Democrats that they do not need to fear the purported power of the Israel lobby any longer, and that they can speak to and reflect the growing base of support for Palestinian rights within the base of the party even in a contest against an old-school Democratic Party stalwart supporter of Israel like Engel.
Someone who knows and cares about education, in Congress. Someone who’s been active on the correct side of things. Remarkable.Wonderful. Unprecedented.
There are other signs that New York is moving in a more progressive direction. These progressive candidates are also more diverse.https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pkyken/progressives-just-had-their-best-primary-night-of-2020?utm_source=vicenewsfacebook
Diane, it was so nice hearing Mr. Bowman thank you personally!! I’m so much in awe of how far your influence spreads. It proves that one person can in fact change the world! Thank you.
Jamaal Bowman is the real deal!
What Diane said up there at 3:58 PM, & Dark Avenger’s first sentence.
Also, very happy for the Bowman win: heard his eloquent speech on Democracy Now!
A real leader.
Here is an opportunistic charter school principal whose political past is marred by lack of participation. He is replacing a veteran Democrat who is/was Chair the the foreign Relations Committee. THIRTY YEARS OF SENIORITY BLOWN. And for what?
Please explain exactly why it matters whether a Democrat with “thirty years of seniority” or a Democrat like Ted Lieu is the chair of the foreign relations committee? What is “blown” because someone in their late 70s retires from Congress and is replaced by someone in his own party?
The important thing is that the Democrats control the committee, not whether the chair has 30 years of experience or 10.
So unless you can explain exactly what is “blown”, your comment doesn’t make sense.
I hope you aren’t suggesting that because of having 30 years of experience, a chair of a committee can direct funds to his district simply because of seniority and not because that is the right thing to do. That would be improper.