Media Continues to Fan the Flames of Progressive ‘Squad’s’ Antisemitism

When it comes to Representative Cori Bush (D-MO), the mainstream media is once again beginning to shift the focus from domestic issues to Israel and the Jewish community for the upcoming Democratic primary race between Bush and St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell.

The race follows in the footsteps of last month’s New York Democratic primary between Jamaal Bowman and George Latimer, in which the media placed a heavy focus on Israel and “big money,” when voters were mostly concerned with local and domestic issues. The Jewish community felt unsafe and disturbed by Bowman’s apparent antisemitism. But in the end, it was non-Jewish voters — and domestic issues — that lost him the race.

However, this lesson has apparently not been learned by both Bush and the media. Most American voters prioritize on domestic issues at the ballot box. As a matter of fact, Emerson College Polling, The Hill, and Nexstar Missouri conducted a poll which revealed that Missouri voters prioritize the economy (34.3%), abortion access (12.3%), and immigration (10.3%) as top three issues. Israel-Hamas did not even fall within the nine categories recorded in the poll.

Since Bowman’s June loss, Bush has played it safe on her social media. That is, until last week:

“The flames of war being fanned by this Israeli government only continue to wreak havoc and bring needless suffering; if we allow this election to be bought & Bush’s opponent to take office, he will do nothing to stop the violence.”

More from @ProJoSTLhttps://t.co/XadLAeXekW

— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) July 16, 2024

Immediately after the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7, Bush and other congresspeople voted against a resolution that supported Israel and condemned Hamas. Prior, she called for the United States to end aid to Israel.

It is important to note that Bush has not been well-liked by the St. Jewish community. She’s made comments that some consider antisemitic and definitively anti-Israel, and that only got worse after October 7. One of the most vivid examples is her tweet via her Congressional X (formerly Twitter) account on October 30:

We can’t be silent about Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign.

Babies, dead.
Pregnant women, dead.
Elderly, dead.
Generations of families, dead.

Millions of people in Gaza with nowhere to go being slaughtered.

The U.S. must stop funding these atrocities against Palestinians. https://t.co/IlhoZvDD3P

— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@RepCori) October 30, 2023

In November, the Jewish community of St. Louis put out a joint-statement condemning Bush’s comments regarding Israel supposedly attempting to ethnically cleanse Palestinians in Gaza:

To accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing as it seeks to defend itself and locate hundreds of hostages still held captive in Gaza — taken only because they were assumed to be Jews — is sickening … Her statement not only fails to advance peace, but it incites anger and the potential of further violence toward the Jewish community.

Bush also has a history of being associated with people like BDS activists Naveen Ayesh and Linda Sarsour.

Ayesh has been caught and exposed by both Canary Mission and then Congress of supporting terror groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad. She also hosted more than one fundraising event for Bush over the years.

In an interview with NPR’s Jason Rosenbaum on Monday, headlined “Bush says her Gaza cease-fire push is resonating with Missouri’s 1st District voters,” about half (and the first half no less) of the discussion was about Bush’s Israel-Gaza position. The article prioritized the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Jewish voters ahead of all other policies and issues.

A focus on Bush’s Israel stance, along with her slams on pro-Israel “republican mega-money,” may sound juicy, but it can be seen as despicable. Rosenbaum even admitted that most people in the district “don’t vote based on Israel.”

The National Desk article already brings in Bowman by the third paragraph, as it introduces the Israel-Hamas War and Trump “mega-donors” to the piece. They did this just to insert Bush’s reaction to Bowman’s loss, blaming “extremists” and claiming that groups like AIPAC tried to “buy votes.”

No other issues were mentioned in the entire article.

Media attempts to absolve Bush of previous libelous accusations of Israel carrying out an ethnic cleansing among others is manipulative, while she continues to insist in interviews that her actions and statements promote safety for both Israelis and Palestinians. She has various tweets which say otherwise.

As the media continues to perpetuate this narrative of Israel being the main issue, here is our message: Don’t fan the flames of antisemitism, especially during a wave of rising antisemitic attacks.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

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