Congratulations AIPAC, You Played Yourself!
Progressive Dem Analilia Mejia wins nom after AIPAC spends millions against not-pro-Israel-enough Tom Malinowski :)
What do you know, in the Democratic primary race to fill New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s former seat in the House for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, former member of Congress Tom Malinowski has conceded, making progressive Analilia Mejia the nominee! Then April 16 she’ll be up against Republican Joe Hathaway, the mayor of Randolph Township, in a special general election for the (very blue) district.
And in an Altoids-strong statement, Malinowski warmly congratulated Mejia and openly blamed his defeat on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which poured $2.3 million into the United Democracy Project (UDP) super PAC, which ran nonstop negative ads against him.
The anti-Tom UDP ads didn’t even mention Israel at all, interestingly. Instead they attacked Malinowski for not being progressive enough, emphasizing his vote on a 2019 bill that included increased funding for ICE.
But according to the Times of Israel what actually angered the deep-pocketed group was Malinowski hinting that he might support conditions on aid to Israel, by saying he would approve aid to any ally based on “case-by-case judgments given what’s happening on the ground.” Even though Malinowski calls himself pro-Israel (and is backed by the more liberal Zionist organization J Street), to the UDP his statement was impure enough to start blasting.
Plan failed successfully! Voters saw those ads and were like, you’re right, that Malinowski is NOT progressive enough! And instead of going for the candidate UDP was thought to prefer, Tahesha Way, they went for Mejia, so liberal she was the national political director for Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign, who wants to abolish ICE, expand the Supreme Court, cancel all student loan debt, Medicare for all, and who has been much more openly critical of Israel:
[Mejia has] accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and pledged not to take any AIPAC-funded trips to the Jewish state. She also began calling for a ceasefire in Gaza within weeks of the bloody Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel after tweeting on October 10: ‘Every fiber of my being is horrified beyond words at what is furthering in Gaza. Yet again we see how oppression & dehumanization leads to despair & unthinkable destruction.’
Maybe AIPAC should have pushed a “centrist” position, whatever that would be any more? Instead they went full sidewinder missile at the slightest perceived criticism, and AIPAC supporters admit ignoring Mejia’s existence was tsedudlt.
“They could not have gotten a worse result than what they got,” said Alan Steinberg, a journalist in New Jersey who was an EPA administrator under George Bush. “I’m a very pro-AIPAC person, very supportive of AIPAC, but this is one of the worst strategic errors that they could’ve ever made.”
But lose some, win some, in ‘24 UDP spent a record $45.2 million to successfully defeat two progressive legislators critical of Israel, Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush. Though the $4.5 million it spent was not enough to beat Dave Min for Katie Porter’s House seat in California.
If you are not familiar with AIPAC, it is where the elite of far-right Christian Evangelical doomsday preppers and far-right Jewish Zionists meet, to kaffeeklatch over nuking Iran or whatever it could take so that Israel can defeat its neighbors and rebuild the Temple, so either Jesus will come floating back from outer space, thank Mike Huckabee et al. for defeating literal demon Democrats, and annihilate all of the Jews, OR, all the Jews will have the last laugh on Huckabee et al. when Jesus winds up ghosting everybody.
AIPAC is officially bipartisan, yet always donates to the candidates with the most war-hawk positions. And it’s got a $100 million war chest! Hopefully needless to say, though, supporting the Middle East marching into Doomsday is not the majority view of most Christians, Jewish people, or Israelis. Most Israelis do not even approve of Netanyahu, just like most Americans do not approve of Trump! Not wanting Israel to, like, starve every Palestinian baby, is hardly a fringe position anywhere, and most Americans hold an unfavorable opinion of the current Israeli government.
So, AIPAC, you played yourself. Better luck next apocalypse, good luck finding that next calf or infinity stone or whatever!
[Times of Israel / New York Times gift link]
I'm not Jewish, but my soon-to-be-daughter-in-law is.
She says AIPAC is a racist cesspool, and probably the gravest threat to Jewish people in the US.
I'll take her word for it.
One of her shirt-tail cousins is the odious Ben Shapiro (and his equally odious sister). That whole branch of the family is cut off from the rest of the family, so I won't have to endure the little prick at the wedding a week from Sunday, praises be.
AIPAC attacking the pro-Israel Malinowski reminds me of the classic joke where ten elderly Jewish mothers are eating lunch in a kosher restaurant.
The waiter walks up to the table and asks, "Ladies, is ANYTHING okay?'