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The Media Played Right Along with Jamaal Bowman’s Antisemitism
Jamaal Bowman speaks at a watch party as he takes an early lead in the democratic primary for New York’s 16th Congressional District in Yonkers, New York, U.S., June 23, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
It’s hard pretending you aren’t antisemitic — and it’s even harder when you try to blame American supporters of the Jewish State for meddling in US elections.
Arrogantly accusing Jewish Americans of corruption for exercising their constitutional right to vote and petition government reeks of antisemitism. Naturally, it’s the exact thing that you would expect a member of Congress representing one of the most Jewish Congressional districts in the country to avoid.
But far-left “Squad” member Jamaal Bowman (D) is unashamed, as he made this narrative part of his re-election bid for NY-16. (He lost the primary election on Tuesday).
From Ilhan Omar (D-MN), to Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), to Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and on, many of his left-wing colleagues have been furthering this narrative all over their X accounts.
People everywhere need to understand how disgusting and abnormal it is for special interests to dump nearly $15 million to unseat a member of Congress in a primary.
This is corruption. It is a core threat to American democracy. It also fuels Trump.
Support Jamaal Bowman. https://t.co/HAWJjKICr7
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 16, 2024
And the mainstream media is playing along.
Media Claims “Israel” Is Top Reason for Progressive Pummeling
The media is largely backing up the far-left’s narrative, covering this election as if the central issue is Israel.
According to polling done by Emerson College, Americans prioritize domestic policies such as the economy and housing affordability by far. Policy on Israel does not even rank in the top six.
This attempt to single out Zionist Americans (both Jewish and non-Jewish) who believe that a strong US-Israel bond is in the US’ best interest, is antisemitic.
The Anti-Defamation League says antisemitism “sometimes targets Jews not as individuals but as a collective — whether that’s Jewish organizations, movements like Zionism or the Jewish State of Israel.”
One example is The Guardian’s “Pro-Israel US groups plan $100m effort to unseat progressives over Gaza”, which claims that Israel is a top issue in the primaries, and supports placing blame on pro-Israel groups’ funding:
Progressive leaders have made clear that they will not go down without a fierce fight, and outrage over the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, has rallied supporters to push back against pro-Israel lobbying groups. The unexpected strength of the “uncommitted” primary campaign in states such as Michigan and Minnesota has underscored that Gaza is weighing heavily on the minds of progressive voters this election cycle, and their mobilization could complicate campaign efforts by groups like Aipac.
The Washington Post reported that despite the heavy media emphasis on Michigan and Minnesota, uncommitted votes in 2024 were “proportionally” less than in 2012.
The media have covered these progressive claims as though they are gospel, with no regard for factual evidence. The agenda was set and they’ve just been playing along. That’s not responsible journalism.
Politico’s “Jamaal Bowman’s challenger is the Cher of suburban New York” has also described county executive George Latimer (D)’s policies on Israel and his financial backers as advantageous over the incumbent Bowman.
The bitter Democratic primary between Bowman and Latimer — one of the country’s most competitive this cycle — will test the influence of a movement politician pushing ultra-progressive national policies against a longtime local leader leveraging both his AIPAC support and his considerable community connections.
Two Democrats are pitted against each other in a narrative only one of them asked for. It’s obvious why.
There’s More to It Than the “Benjamins”
While donations and ads are a big part of any election, they are not the end-all-be-all. Another indicator is whether a candidate has good policies that voters align with.
The economy, crime, and immigration are the top three major policies that voters are paying attention to, according to Emerson. One of Bowman’s campaign promises is to lower crime, but since he’s been in office, voters may know what to expect from him.
The poll recorded that 55% of the voters believe crime has not improved in the last year, and 28% say crime has increased. Only 17% of voters say crime has gone down.
The majority (64%) of district voters also favor President Joe Biden’s executive order for border control at the US-Mexico border, whereas Bowman is vehemently against it. The number of voters who align with him is only 23%, according to Emerson reports.
Voters in Bowman’s districts seem to be fed up, and it could be because he isn’t focusing on the issues that matter. Instead, he, along with the media, led a smear campaign about Israel policies and “big money,” while millennials can’t afford to own anything. He promised to take care of his district, but the results don’t seem to have been fruitful enough in his last term.
Not only is Bowman vehemently anti-Israel, but he also seems to be denying his antisemitism. From his request for a past picture with a rabbi to prove he “is friends with Jewish people” being rejected, to making the claim that Jewish people purposely live in “segregated communities,” his views have become clear to his constituents (or his former constituents, after Tuesday’s election).
So it’s safe to assume that pro-Israel and Republican “big money” wasn’t the determining factor on June 25, at least not in this New York district. Just the candidates’ policies … which include a touch of internalized antisemitism. This begs the question: why distort Israel into a central narrative, when it isn’t? Leave the Jews alone, and just focus on the economy.
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.
The post The Media Played Right Along with Jamaal Bowman’s Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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New York City Jews Targeted for Most Hate Crimes in March, NYPD Stats Show
Orthodox Jewish man waiting for the train in the New York City subway. Photo: Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect.
Jews in New York City were victims of more hate crimes in March than any other group even as crime across the Five Boroughs fell to “historic” lows, according to statistics issued by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on Thursday.
39 hate crimes targeted Jews last month, the Algemeiner reviewed data shows, outstripping the combined total of all other groups combined — 28 — and constituting 58 percent of all hate crimes reported to authorities. So far, there have born 85 antisemitic hate crimes in New York City through the first three months of 2025, with the month of February seeing a 100 percent increase in them over the previous year and March seeing no improvement at all.
The data continues a trend that has persisted for several years and concurred with a rise in antisemitic incidents across the US.
Jews represented a disproportionate share of hate crimes perpetrated in New York City in 2024 as well. Of the 641 total hate crimes tallied by the NYPD that year, Jews were victims of 345, which, in addition to being a 7 percent increase over the previous year, amounted to 54 percent of all hate crimes in the city.
As The Algemeiner has previously reported, antisemitic hate crimes have posed a major threat to the quality of life of New York City’s Orthodox Jewish community, which was the target in many of the incidents. In just eight days between the end of October and the beginning of November, three Hasidim, including children, were brutally assaulted in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. In one instance, an Orthodox man was accosted by two assailants, one masked, who “chased and beat him” after he refused to surrender his cellphone in compliance with what appeared to have been an attempted robbery.
In another incident, an African American male smacked a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was commuting to school on his bike in the heavily Jewish neighborhood. Less than a week earlier, an assailant slashed a visibly Jewish man in the face as he was walking in Brooklyn. Days after the week-long antisemitic hate crime spree, three men attempted to rob a Hasidic man after stalking him through the Crown Heights neighborhood.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post New York City Jews Targeted for Most Hate Crimes in March, NYPD Stats Show first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration
(Source: Reuters)
NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration held by members of the lesbian community in New York City, has banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, citing a desire to stand against the so-called “genocide” occuring in Gaza.
The group revealed in a statement that their decision to ban Israel supporters from their ranks came after multiple members dropped out of the organization due to differences in “political beliefs and values.” After engaging in discussions with frustrated members, the NYC Dyke March committee agreed to adopt “an explicitly anti-Zionist position.” The organization claims that it will “strengthen our commitment” to fighting against Israel and advocating on behalf of Palestinians.
Last year, the NYC Dyke March previously came under scrutiny after organizers settled on “genocide” as the theme of its 2024 event. In a statement, decrying “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” the organization compared the ongoing war in Gaza, to the mass slaughters occurring in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan.
The organization plans on recycling the same theme for this year’s march, titling it “Dykes Against Genocide.” The group released a statement clarifying that Jews are allowed to attend and condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters as a “senseless loss of life.” After an apparent uproar from its members, the organization deleted the post and wrote that the group “unapologetically stands in support of Palestinian liberation.” In addition, the group affirmed that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and any language we put out which is not clearly opposed to a Zionist, imperialist agenda is harmful to us all.”
In the 17 months following the Hamas-led massacre of roughly 1200 people throughout Israel, the NYC Dyke March has produced numerous statements lambasting Israel and declaring “solidarity” with Palestinians amid their so-called “ongoing genocide.” The organization also accused Israel of engaging in supposed “pinkwashing” and “manipulative use of Jewish and queer identities,” with the aim of justifying its war efforts in Gaza.
Israel offers an expansive set of rights for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transngender (LGBT) community, including recognition of same-sex marriages. Every year in June, Tel Aviv holds one of the largest LGBT Pride celebrations in the world. Meanwhile, members of the LGBT community are routinely imprisoned or murdered in other parts of the Middle East, including the Palestinian territories.
The NYC Dyke March’s announcement was met with widespread condemnation.
“You cannot exclude the majority of Jews and call yourself inclusive,” said the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a post on X/Twitter, adding that the group “essentially equates Zionism with racism” in their announcement.
The post NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with journalists onboard Air Force One en route to Miami, Florida, U.S., April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Trump administration reportedly plans to terminate $510 million worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, according to media reports.
Brown University’s failure to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and, inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination — prompted the alleged pending action by the federal government, according to the right-leaning outlet The Daily Caller.
The announcement comes as Brown scrambles to cover a $46 million budget shortfall and other universities across the country have faced similar funding cuts.
Brown University officials, however, denied that the university had received any directives from the Trump Administration.
“We have no information to substantiate these rumors,” Brown University provost Francis Doyle issued a statement. “We are closely monitoring notifications related to grants, but have nothing more we can share as of now.”
Meanwhile, Brown’s Jewish community rushed to the university’s defense, issuing a joint statement with the Brown Corporation which said that the campus is “peaceful and supportive campus for its Jewish community.”
The letter, signed by members of the local Hillel International chapter and Chabad on College Hill, continued: “Brown University is a place where Jewish life not only exists but thrives. While there is more work to be done, Brown, through the dedicated efforts of its administration, leadership, and resilient spirit of its Jewish community, continues to uphold the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom that have been central to its identity since 1764.”
Brown Divest Coalition — an anti-Zionist group which recently saw its campaign for the university to adopt the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel defeated by the Brown Corporation — weighed in too, denouncing the reported cut as “a means of suppressing all forms of popular dissent to the renewed violence of the US war machine abroad.” US Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) also criticized the move, accusing the administration “of a broader pattern of behavior…that will negatively impact communities across the country and lead to layoffs, restrict research, and more.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration is following through on its threats to inflict potentially catastrophic financial injuries on colleges and universities deemed as soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.” The past six weeks has seen the policy imposed on elite universities including Harvard and Columbia, rattling a higher education establishment that has for better and worse operated for decades with little interference from the federal government even as it polarized the public and contributed to a growing sense that elites are contemptuous of Americans who live outside of their cultural enclaves.
In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
Additionally, 60 universities are being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over their handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.
One of those universities, Northwestern University, on Monday touted its progress in addressing campus antisemitism, noting that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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