Several pro-Israel groups are working to defeat progressive Democrats in this year's congressional primary elections—with one planning $100 million in political spending, according to a report Monday.
The targeting of candidates, including U.S. Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri -- both members of the progressive House group known as "the Squad"—show how the ongoing Israel-Hamas war is affecting American politics and could shape the next wave of incoming lawmakers, the Hill said.
The head of one group, the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC, acknowledged the effort but denied it was aimed at "progressive people" or "pro-Palestinian people."
"We're interested in defeating people who are anti-Israel and I think it's fair to say that Bowman, Bush and some of these other members are decidedly anti-Israel," DMFI president and CEO Mark Mellman told the Hill.
Mellman, a Democratic pollster, also claimed that "the polling that we've done that people like Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman are out of sync with the voters in their district."
Last month, Politico reported that the American-Israel Public Affairs Group expected to spend $100 million against candidates it considered insufficiently supportive of Israel, citing three people with direct knowledge of the amount.
AIPAC, widely considered the most influential pro-Israel group in the U.S., recruited George Latimer, the county executive of suburban Westchester County, New York, to run against Bowman in the June 25 primary, the Jewish Insider website reported in January.
A spokesperson for the progressive group Justice Democrats, Usamah Andrabi, accused AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups of trying to stifle Democratic criticism of Israel by using the threat of primary challenges.
"As long as you are even lightly critical of the Israeli government or the Israeli military, you are a target," Andrabi, a leading member of the newly formed Reject AIPAC coalition, told the Hill.
Andrabi claimed that members of Congress have told each other, "We want to speak out against the atrocities that are happening but we're scared of an AIPAC primary."
An official with the progressive Jewish group J Street also accused AIPAC of "funneling millions and millions of Republican billionaire dollars into Democratic primaries" through an independent expenditure arm, the United Democracy Project.
"They're doing the same thing that Republicans are doing in the House, which is using the war as a political football and dividing the Democratic Party over it at a moment when the future of our democracy is on the line," J Street National political director Tali deGroot told the Hill.
AIPAC pushed back against the criticism, telling the Hill it's "the largest PAC contributor to Democratic candidates."
"Our political action committee supports the Democratic leadership and nearly half of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Black Caucus and Hispanic Caucus," the group said in a statement. "In addition, our affiliated super Pac supported a number of Democratic progressive candidates in the last election cycle, who defeated anti-Israel candidates in their primary, won their general election, and are currently serving in Congress."
AIPAC added: "We believe that it is entirely consistent with progressive values to stand with the Jewish state."
