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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/dsa-fails-palestine-test-giving-jamaal-bowman-pass">electronicintifada.net</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">DSA fails Palestine test by giving Jamaal Bowman a pass</h1>
<p class="gmail-node__submitted">
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-author"><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah">Ali Abunimah</a></span> -
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-publication-date"><span class="gmail-date-display-single">4 December 2021</span></span> </p>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div>
<span><img src="https://electronicintifada.net/sites/default/files/styles/original_800w/public/2021-12/rollcallpix138406.jpg?itok=sI9abPNA×tamp=1638659666" alt="Two men in suits with their backs towards one another" title="" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="450" height="292"></span><p>Congressman Jamaal Bowman turned his back on earlier commitments by voting to re-arm Israel.</p><small>
<span>CQ Roll Call</span></small><p>Congressman <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/jamaal-bowman">Jamaal Bowman</a> survived an effort to <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-top-progressive-group-opts-to-not-expel-u-s-congressman-over-israel-trip-1.10436455">expel</a> him from the Democratic Socialists of America on Thursday.</p>
<p>This came after several Palestinians and Arab Americans stepped in to
shield the New York Democrat from growing grassroots anger over his
support for Israel.</p>
<p>Bowman, a member of the new intake of “progressives,” defeated <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/eliot-engel">heavyweight pro-Israel incumbent Eliot Engel</a> in a <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/democrats-pushing-against-biden-confront-ossified-views">hotly contested battle</a> last year.</p>
<p>Yet Bowman quickly betrayed the hopes and expectations of many supporters.</p>
<p>Earlier this week, the DSA’s Palestine solidarity working group <a href="https://medium.com/@dsapalestinesolidarity/dsa-bds-working-group-formally-calls-for-the-expulsion-of-rep-jamaal-bowman-fa92eba6854a">called</a> for Bowman’s expulsion.</p>
<p>In November, DSA members met Bowman and concluded that the congressman was “not ready to accept our most significant demands.”</p>
<p>DSA members want Bowman to end his relationship with J Street and
other Israel lobby groups. They also demand his unequivocal support for
Palestinian human rights groups <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/they-are-criminals-we-believe-justice">falsely labeled</a> as “terrorist” by Israel and that he oppose any further US funding for Israel.</p>
<h2>DSA fudge</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.dsausa.org/statements/on-the-question-of-expelling-rep-bowman/">forceful condemnation</a> on Thursday, DSA’s National Political Committee called Bowman’s recent pro-Israel moves “egregious.”</p>
<p>The group cited Bowman’s <a href="https://www.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-stands-with-the-palestinian-people-national-political-committee-condemns-iron-dome-vote/">September vote</a>
to give additional US funding to Israel’s Iron Dome missile system and
his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during a
November junket organized by J Street.
</p><div id="gmail-file-113856">
<blockquote>— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) <a href="https://twitter.com/naftalibennett/status/1458378103940583428?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<div id="gmail-file-113861">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">This evening at the
Knesset, I met with a delegation of Democratic members of Congress. I
thanked them for supporting the replenishment of the Iron Dome missile
defense system, and we discussed the importance of continuing to
strengthen the US-Israel relationship. 🇮🇱🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/DBiJI8gDcL">pic.twitter.com/DBiJI8gDcL</a></p>— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid🟠 (@yairlapid) <a href="https://twitter.com/yairlapid/status/1457790332532236294?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The National Political Committee said there was “no excuse” for Bowman’s
decision “to increase funding for the Israeli military” in violation of
his earlier pledges.
<p>It called his participation in the J Street “propaganda trip” to Israel part of an effort to “legitimize an apartheid state.”</p>
<p>Bowman’s support for the standalone Iron Dome bill in September followed his July vote for a foreign aid bill that included <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4373/text">more than $3 billion</a> in military funding for Israel.</p>
<p>The congressman endorsed the aid only months after Israel’s <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/al-wihda-street-massacre/33366">horrific massacres</a> of entire families in Gaza.</p>
<p>But after laying out a seemingly clear-cut case for Bowman’s
expulsion, DSA’s leadership opted for a fudge: The progressive group
will not expel Bowman but neither will it re-endorse him in 2022 “unless
he is able to demonstrate solidarity with Palestine in alignment with
expectations we have set.”</p>
<p>DSA’s platform <a href="https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/">states</a>
that the group will “stand in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle
against apartheid, colonialism and military occupation, and for
equality, human rights and self-determination, including the boycott,
divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.”</p>
<p>At this point, however, it is hard to see how Bowman could reverse
the damage he has done to Palestinians or why he should be given another
chance.</p>
<p>At the very least, he should have been expelled from DSA but invited
to re-apply for membership when he has clearly met its political
conditions.</p>
<p>Instead, DSA has demonstrated that it will allow celebrity members <a href="https://www.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-stands-with-the-palestinian-people-national-political-committee-condemns-iron-dome-vote/">including</a> Congresswoman <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/alexandria-ocasio-cortez">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</a> and Bowman to violate fundamental principles with little meaningful accountability.</p>
<p>Notably, Ocasio-Cortez – along with Congresswomen <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/rashida-tlaib">Rashida Tlaib</a> and <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/cori-bush">Cori Bush</a> – was among only three Democrats to vote against the July appropriations bill providing billions to Israel.</p>
<p>But in September, amid tears on the House floor, Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/democrats-abandon-rashida-tlaib-racist-onslaught">switched her vote</a> on the additional Iron Dome funding from “no” to “present.”</p>
<h2>Crossing Palestine’s picket line</h2>
<p>Last month, Palestine’s Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee denounced the J Street junket attended by Bowman.</p>
<p>“Visits by politicians and parliamentarians to Israel that are
organized by Israel lobby groups, including AIPAC and J Street in the
US, cross our nonviolent Palestinian BDS picket line and harm our
struggle for freedom, justice and equality,” the group said.
</p><div id="gmail-file-113866">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Visits by
politicians and parliamentarians to Israel that are organized by Israel
lobby groups, including AIPAC and J Street in the U.S., cross our
nonviolent Palestinian BDS picket line and harm our struggle for
freedom, justice and equality. <a href="https://t.co/Lcc8ThJqHc">pic.twitter.com/Lcc8ThJqHc</a></p>— BDS movement (@BDSmovement) <a href="https://twitter.com/BDSmovement/status/1461764402408009740?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
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J Street has a long history of opposing basic Palestinian rights and BDS.
<p>While marketing itself as kinder and gentler than AIPAC, J Street’s goal is to <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/j-street-brings-together-progressives-israeli-war-criminals">bridge the gap</a> between “progressives” and Israeli war criminals.</p>
<p>DSA’s slap on the wrist for Bowman will comfort J Street and other
pro-Israel liberal groups. Their goal is to co-opt effective left-wing
solidarity into mere rhetorical support for the moribund “two-state
solution” at the expense of Palestinian rights and liberation.</p>
<p>In that respect, Bowman is a dream come true for J Street.</p>
<p>In May – the month after Ocasio-Cortez did her own <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/aoc-panders-israel-lobby">pandering performance</a> in front of the Israel lobby group – Bowman <a href="https://youtu.be/eC87V89uTeA?t=1526">took part in an online event</a> with the Jewish Committee Relations Council of New York.</p>
<p>During the event Bowman agreed with his host’s characterization as anti-Semitic of many of the <a href="https://mccollum.house.gov/media/press-releases/mccollum-introduces-historic-legislation-defending-human-rights-palestinian">groups</a> that have endorsed Representative Betty McCollum’s <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/bill-would-block-us-funding-israels-abuse-palestinian-children">bill</a> to bar Israel from using US-funded weaponry against Palestinian children.</p>
<p>Bowman has co-sponsored that bill so it was particularly egregious how he threw other supporters under the bus.</p>
<p>“I do not align myself with those groups, I do not support the BDS movement,” Bowman asserted.</p>
<p>“Israel has a right to exist, it has a right to its homeland. It has a
right to self-determination and I’m here to support that right,” the
congressman added.</p>
<p>Bowman is doing everything of substance that the Israel lobby could
ask of him, from voting for bombs and bullets for Israel to opposing
even nonviolent Palestinian resistance.</p>
<p>But he’s adept at throwing occasional symbolic crumbs that appease
the gullible and allow opponents of Palestinian rights to sugarcoat his
support for Israel.</p>
<p>This was on full display during the J Street junket in November,
during which Bowman posed for photos with Palestinian children in the
occupied West Bank.
</p><div id="gmail-file-113871">
<blockquote><div dir="ltr" lang="en"><p>Had the honor of meeting with children today in the occupied West Bank city Hebron.</p><p>There are streets they cannot walk and places they cannot go, simply because they are Palestinian. </p><p>When I asked about their dreams, their answer was simple: freedom. </p><p>The occupation must end. <a href="https://t.co/c0JBVuCw6q">pic.twitter.com/c0JBVuCw6q</a></p></div>— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamaalBowmanNY/status/1458520644887384064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“There are streets they cannot walk and places they cannot go, simply
because they are Palestinian,” Bowman tweeted. “When I asked about their
dreams, their answer was simple: freedom.”
<p>“The occupation must end,” he concluded.</p>
<p>All that is rich hypocrisy from someone who voted to give Israel more
weapons to kill Palestinian children and ensure the occupation never
ends.</p>
<p>Far from supporting these Palestinian children’s “freedom,” Bowman
was cynically using them as human shields to deflect criticism of his
support for Israel.</p>
<p>And it worked – at least for some.</p>
<h2>Protecting politicians or holding them accountable?</h2>
<p>Among those who rode in to defend Bowman as he faced possible
expulsion from DSA were a handful of Arab Americans that the Tel Aviv
newspaper <em>Haaretz</em> <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-top-progressive-group-opts-to-not-expel-u-s-congressman-over-israel-trip-1.10436455">generously described</a> as “leading Palestinian activists.”
</p><div id="gmail-file-113876">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Brilliant thread from <a href="https://twitter.com/OmarBaddar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OmarBaddar</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/JamaalBowmanNY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JamaalBowmanNY</a>.
It ridiculous & so destructive for folks who think they’re pure to
try to punish a wonderful progressive Congressman. This is not the way
to build a mov’t. Look at his record. We need Jamaal in Congress. <a href="https://t.co/I948JRxEaz">https://t.co/I948JRxEaz</a></p>— James J. Zogby (@jjz1600) <a href="https://twitter.com/jjz1600/status/1466563851131006982?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
They included James Zogby, longtime Democratic Party stalwart and
president of the Arab American Institute, and his former deputy <a href="https://twitter.com/OmarBaddar/status/1466507536744472578">Omar Baddar</a>.
<p>Also urging that Bowman be given a break were <a href="https://twitter.com/mzdereus/status/1466493141653983233">Margaret Zaknoen DeReus</a>, director of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, and <a href="https://twitter.com/YousefMunayyer/status/1466498009299095566">Yousef Munayyer</a>, former director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.
</p><div id="gmail-file-113881">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Well said! <a href="https://t.co/29A2HijUwK">https://t.co/29A2HijUwK</a></p>— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) <a href="https://twitter.com/YousefMunayyer/status/1466498009299095566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“Working with Congress can be full of frustration and contradictions –
we have a lot of work to do to ensure that the US isn’t complicit in
Israel’s oppression of Palestinians,” Zaknoen DeReus <a href="https://twitter.com/mzdereus/status/1466493151586095104">tweeted</a>.
<p>“I don’t believe we do that by alienating members of Congress like [Representative Bowman] from our movement.”</p>
<p>Instead, she suggested that supporters of Palestinian rights “push
and build power with” Bowman “on our path to a better world for all.”
</p><div id="gmail-file-113886">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">What’s the point of
getting “pro-Palestinian” people in Congress if the minute they get
there they start betraying you and arming the people who kill you while
you make excuses for them and gaslight people that it’s all ok and we
should shut up and take it?</p>— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) <a href="https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/1466584841596588042?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
But pushing and building power is exactly what DSA members were trying
to achieve by calling for Bowman’s expulsion. They wanted to send a
message that their political principles matter and cannot be violated
without a cost.
<p>That would tell politicians seeking the endorsement, donations and
on-the-ground work of DSA members that they must uphold the political
commitments they make.
</p><div id="gmail-file-113891">
<blockquote><div dir="ltr" lang="en"><p>Powerful article by USPCN & <a href="https://twitter.com/NAARPR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NAARPR</a> leaders:</p><p>"If <a href="https://twitter.com/RepBowman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepBowman</a>
truly wants 2 uphold progressive values ... he should listen to people
in his district & to Black liberation movement. He should support <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BDS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BDS</a>, disavow & vote against US aid to apartheid Israel"<a href="https://t.co/QajwsuRDrw">https://t.co/QajwsuRDrw</a></p></div>— US Palestinian Community Network (@uspcn) <a href="https://twitter.com/uspcn/status/1466154637879300101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
By contrast, Zaknoen DeReus and others, including ultimately DSA’s
National Political Committee, appear to believe that maintaining insider
ties to politicians is more important than holding them accountable.
<p>Instead of defending Palestinians from the hostile and lethal actions
of politicians, the “progressive” cause becomes defending politicians
from Palestinians and their supporters. This enables and prolongs the
phenomenon of “<a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/jan-schakowsky-progressive-except-palestine/33836">Progressive Except for Palestine</a>.”
</p><div id="gmail-file-113896">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">In other words, the
Zionist lobby who will never support Bowman no matter how much he
grovels to them can make demands & make lines in the sand, but not
the DSA who will hope that he'll "do better" on Palestine whatever that
means. <a href="https://t.co/JTkJw67Ds4">https://t.co/JTkJw67Ds4</a></p>— Adam Tawfik (@TawfikZone) <a href="https://twitter.com/TawfikZone/status/1466869606631583752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
Presumably the promise is that at some indeterminate time in the future –
due to clever enough “advocacy” – Bowman will see the light and reverse
his headlong rush into the arms of the Israel lobby.
<p>But that is never how politics works. As anyone who has watched the
Democratic Party establishment’s ratchet ever further to the right
knows, calls for those on the left to be “pragmatic” are almost always
demands that they accept the status quo.</p>
<p>Bowman will undoubtedly be happy to “engage” and “dialogue” with
liberal groups like the Arab American Institute or the Institute for
Middle East Understanding forever, while he continues voting to fund
Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.</p>
<p>Waleed Shahid, a senior Democratic Party strategist, touted Zaknoen
DeReus’ intervention as a reason to oppose the expulsion of Bowman from
DSA.
</p><div id="gmail-file-113901">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Good thread. Director of Palestinian rights organization <a href="https://twitter.com/theIMEU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@theIMEU</a> defends <a href="https://twitter.com/JamaalBowmanNY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JamaalBowmanNY</a> against recent talk of expulsion and censure from DSA related to BDS. <a href="https://t.co/du3TLyJmj1">https://t.co/du3TLyJmj1</a></p>— Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) <a href="https://twitter.com/_waleedshahid/status/1466509280627019789?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
But while party operatives undoubtedly appreciated the efforts to shield
Bowman from accountability, the grassroots reaction was far less
positive – at least judging from the scathing criticism on social media.
<div id="gmail-file-113906">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">DSA and Jacobin were
(rightly) getting criticized for their Bowman apologia, so right on cue
the think tank Arab Americans (and their liberal Zionist cheerleaders)
all jumped in at the same time to run interference.</p>— Steven Salaita (@stevesalaita) <a href="https://twitter.com/stevesalaita/status/1466600160474054662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
Writer Steven Salaita observed that just as DSA and the left-wing magazine <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2021/11/democratic-socialists-j-street-bds-israel-palestine-iron-dome-aoc"><em>Jacobin</em></a>
“were (rightly) getting criticized” for their Bowman apologia, “the
think tank Arab Americans (and their liberal Zionist cheerleaders) all
jumped in at the same time to run interference.”
<p>There is only a slim hope that anti-Palestinian policies will change
in the US as a result of electoral activism. But that hope is negated
entirely when Palestinian Americans – of all people – step in to protect
politicians from the justifiable outrage at their complicity in
Israel’s horrific crimes.</p><br>
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