Cori Bush, the “progressive” Black Lives Matter activist who defeated ten-term incumbent Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO) in the Missouri primary on Tuesday, is the latest left-wing Democrat with anti-Israel views to rise within the party.
The Democratic Party has been moving to the left on the Israel issue for years. In 2012, the party platform had to be changed at the convention, over loud objections, to insert support for Jerusalem (and God) back into the document.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) led a new cohort of anti-Israel Democrats to Congress after she won an upset victory in 2018 over Rep. Joe Crowley. She was later joined by Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
Now, Cori Bush, 44, appears to be on track to join them, after upsetting Rep. Clay in an overwhelmingly Democratic district.
Bush had supporters the anti-Israel “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement, as reported by Jewish Insider:
In a now-deleted page on her campaign website, Bush expounded upon her foreign policy views.
On the page, she expressed support for BDS, which she said had been “mischaracterize[d] and demonize[d] by its opponents.”
“I stand by the right of Palestinians to live as a free people just as the people of Israel and we as U.S. citizens are allowed to do,” the page read. “We also stand by their right to call for a boycott on goods and services that the government that is currently oppressing them profits from, in order to draw attention to their plight.”
The page goes on to express support for the Iran nuclear deal and calls to “end the war on sanctions.” Bush also said she “oppose[s] our imperialist foreign policy and the runaway influence of the military-industrial complex.”
Rep. Clay sent a negative mailer to voters last week attacking Bush for her opposition to Israel:
scoop, possibly: here’s where Rep. Lacy Clay has decided to take the campaign in its final days facing a challenge from progressive activist Cori Bush pic.twitter.com/vHXLbosLhw
— Suburban Lifestyle Dream (@NickTagliaferro) August 1, 2020
Clay could hardly point to a stellar record on Israel himself: he had been endorsed since 2014 by far-left J Street, a radical organization that often opposes the policies of the Israeli government, and the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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