Bowman, Lee, and Bush use Iran’s attack as a reason to criticize Israel
Members of the left-wing “Squad” are responding to the unprecedented attack on Israel by equating Iran with the Jewish state and condemning both nations.
After Iran fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel early Sunday, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) issued a statement that likened the attack to an Israeli strike on an Iranian compound in Syria. The strike killed a senior Iranian commander who was in charge of arming Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group that has fired thousands of rockets at Israel since Oct. 7. Iran’s attack killed a 7-year-old girl.
“I unequivocally condemn the Iranian military’s attack on Israel, just as I condemn the Israeli military attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria ordered by Prime Minister Netanyahu that sparked this dangerous escalation,” Bowman wrote in a Monday post. “We cannot condemn violence on one hand and then condone it in the other.”
Fellow “Squad” members Summer Lee (D., Pa.) and Cori Bush (D., Mo.) issued similar statements on Sunday, with Lee condemning “Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate” and Bush using the Iranian attack to condemn “Netanyahu’s maniacal, genocidal acts.”
“We must oppose all violent escalations right now. I condemn Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel & Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate. I agree with President Biden’s immediate call for de-escalation & making clear to Netanyahu that we oppose any Israeli counterattacks,” Lee said.
“I am deeply concerned by the Iranian military’s attack on Israel, which comes in response to the Israeli military’s attack on the Iranian Embassy in Syria,” Bush added. “We must stop arming Netanyahu’s maniacal, genocidal acts. President Biden is right to call for an immediate de-escalation,” she later said.
Bowman, Lee, and Bush’s comments come as all three members of Congress are facing uphill primary races against pro-Israel challengers.
This is the first time Iran has directly attacked the Jewish State from its own territory. Israel and its allies prevented 99 percent of the missiles from reaching Israeli airspace. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still weighing a military response. President Joe Biden on Saturday reportedly told Netanyahu that the United States would not support any counterattack against Iran.
“It’s been a long night/morning but one thing is clear. We are strong, resilient and we will never give in to terror. Those who harm the people of Israel will pay the price,” Israel’s official account wrote in a Sunday post.
Bowman finds himself 17 points behind Westchester County executive George Latimer, whom local rabbis encouraged to run, citing Bowman’s hostility toward the Jewish state. In the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, the two-term congressman has accused Israel of “mass murder,” “genocide,” and “ethnic cleansing.”
Bowman blamed Israel’s “blockade of Gaza” for the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. Bowman later touted a January endorsement from The Jewish Vote, a group of anti-Israel activists that said the Oct. 7 attacks were not “unprovoked.” Members of the left-wing group were previously pictured with Bowman at his campaign launch.
Lee’s primary opponent, Pittsburgh-area borough councilwoman Bhavini Patel, joined 41 rabbis and cantors in calling on her to return campaign contributions from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other anti-Israel activists which blamed Israel for the Oct. 7 attacks.
Lee’s vote and anti-Israel rhetoric prompted criticism from Rabbi Seth Adelson of Pittsburgh’s Congregation Beth Shalom, who said he was “disappointed” that Lee was not “more proactive” in supporting her district’s Jewish community. Forty Jewish leaders in Pittsburgh similarly skewered Lee in a November letter, which called on the congresswoman to “exercise better leadership and join her colleagues in upholding the moral obligation for Israel to protect its citizens against Hamas.”
A coalition of Jewish organizations similarly accused Bush of “fanning the flames of antisemitism” and showing “little outrage against the horrendous attacks.”
“Representative Bush has shown little outrage against the horrendous attacks by an organization whose very charter calls for the killing of all Jewish people,” the coalition wrote in a November letter. “To the contrary, in private discussions she has stated repeatedly that she supports the Jewish community, is listening to our fears and concerns, and stands against antisemitism,” the coalition continued. “She then issues public statements that directly contradict what she told us in private.”
Bush, who faces St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell, has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide.” The St. Louis congresswoman was one of just two House members who voted against a January bill that barred terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 attack from entering the United States. Bush said the bill would “target immigrants and incite anti-Palestinian hate.”
Lee’s primary date against Patel is slated for April 23, while Bowman will square off against Latimer in late June and Bush against Bell in August. The winners of those primaries are expected to win their general elections in November.
Bowman, Lee, and Bush did not respond to requests for comment.
