US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) raises her fist as US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses a pro-Hamas demonstration in Washington, DC. Photo: Reuters/Allison Bailey
US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) lamented not running for president during a new interview, saying that she wants to see the White House place an arms embargo on Israel.
Bush chatted with members of the Uncommitted Movement during the “Not Another Bomb” digital roll call on Thursday. Uncommitted, an initiative which has encouraged Democrats not to support presidential nominee Kamala Harris unless she adopts anti-Israel policies, hosted an event to discuss strategies on how to fracture the relationship between America and the Jewish state.
During the discussion, Bush suggested that the Harris campaign has not been sufficiently adversarial toward Israel. However, Bush added that she does not feel justified in complaining about their unwillingness to agree to an “arms embargo now” on the Jewish state, citing her own decision not to “step up” and launch a presidential campaign.
“But the thing is, I had to check my own self and say, ‘You know what? While you’re asking for all of these things from someone else, you didn’t step up to the run. You want things that you would’ve bought to the table. But you didn’t step up. So how dare you want a perfect person? Like, you wanted yourself,” Bush said.
Bush, an anti-Israel firebrand, also suggested that pro-Palestinian organizers would have a harder time making progress under a Donald Trump presidency.
Bush argued that Trump’s “talk about rounding up and deporting pro-Palestine protesters” would render anti-Israel activists unable “to do as much work to save the people of Gaza.” Bush claimed that the “oppression” of a Trump presidency would neutralize the ability of protesters to push for change in society.
“How much capacity will we have to help abroad, as we are fighting here?” Bush asked. “What harm will we have to suffer and live through with a Donald Trump presidency as we are still trying to fight for the people of Gaza?”
Bush has established herself as one of the most vocal critics of Israel in the US Congress. Only nine days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel, Bush called for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group. As the war dragged on, Bush’s rhetoric toward Israel sharpened, with the congresswoman accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” in Gaza and “apartheid” in the West Bank. Bush has also accused Israel of inflicting a “famine” in Gaza without providing evidence.
Bush’s consistent anti-Israel rhetoric following Oct. 7 galvanized scores of St. Louis area Jews to throw their support behind her Democratic primary opponent, St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, spent $8.5 million to help secure Bush’s ouster from Congress. The congresswoman lost her bid for re-election earlier in August to Bell, who unlike Bush has expressed support for the Jewish state’s right to defend itself from Hamas’s terrorism.
In her concession speech, Bush blamed her loss on AIPAC, vowing to destroy their “kingdom.”
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