As predicted, the race wasn’t close in the deep blue region, although the split between the two portions of the district was obvious.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Challenger George Latimer handily beat Squad incumbent Jamaal Bowman in Tuesday’s primary for New York’s deep blue 16th District, making it almost a certainty that an additional pro-Israel voice will be added to Congress in November.

The two parts of the district voted wildly differently, with 83% of those in the heavily black Bronx ticking the African-American Bowman’s name, but the larger, Westchester portion, which has a significant Jewish population, overwhelmingly going for Latimer.

There was more than a 10-point spread between the two when Bowman conceded defeat.

Although Latimer touted his 30 years of experience in New York and Westchester County politics to show his success in fighting for his constituents, much of the race revolved around the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip because of the opposite sides they took on the issue.

While both are proponents of the so-called “two-state solution,” Latimer backs Israel wholeheartedly in its war, saying that there is no point to negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas since it is a terrorist organization, and blaming Palestinian terrorism for the conflict.

Bowman is one of the Democrats who belong to the progressive, anti-Israel Squad. He has called Israel an “apartheid state,” parroted Hamas talking points such as accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, and called for limiting weapons shipments to the Jewish state.

Before backtracking, he also at first called it a “lie” that Hamas terrorists systematically raped many of their victims during their October 7 massacre of 1,200 people.

A mere week after the slaughter, he urged a ceasefire in a statement that did not mention Hamas, terrorism, or the 252 Israeli hostages that the terrorists had taken.

When Latimer’s campaign gained steam, backed by big money, including over $14 million raised by the PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Black two-term congressman started spouting antisemitic themes in his speeches about Jewish money and its supposed control over American politics.

During a debate last month with Latimer, he charged that “You’re the number-one recipient of AIPAC money in the country. AIPAC is funded by right-wing Republicans who want to destroy our democracy.”

Ten days ago, in a rally also addressed by anti-Israel colleagues Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and fellow New Yorker Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, he yelled into the microphone, “We are going to show f—ing AIPAC, the power of the motherf—ing South Bronx! People ask me why I got a foul mouth. What am I supposed to do? You’re coming after me! You’re coming after my family! You’re coming after my children! I’m not supposed to fight back?”

A record $23 million was spent on TV, digital, radio and social media advertising during the runup to the primary, the vast majority of it by the Latimer campaign.

Jewish community leaders and rabbis rejoiced at the victory after working hard to get their community out to vote.

“The turnout we’ve generated will be a model for Jewish communities across the country,” said Maury Litwack, CEO of the Teach New York Coalition/Westchester United, a group affiliated with the Orthodox Jewish Union

In a statement, Democratic Majority for Israel president Mark Mellman said, “George Latimer’s victory and Jamaal Bowman’s defeat proves in dramatic fashion that being pro-Israel is not just wise policy, but also smart politics.”

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Democrat Mohamed Khairullah was not allowed to attend a White House event last year because he could not get Secret Service clearance.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

An anti-Israel New Jersey mayor challenging longtime congressman Bill Pascrell in a Democratic primary Tuesday was denied entry to a White House event last year due to his inability to receive security clearance.

Mohamed Khairullah, a Muslim who has headed the municipality of Prospect Park for the last 18 years, came to the U.S. in 1980 from his native Syria.

He was asked last April to a White House celebration of the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. Politico reported at the time that he said “he was within minutes of entering the White House…when he was told he was not cleared by the Secret Service to attend the event.”

Khairullah was not told why he wasn’t cleared, which is standard practice of the Secret Service, but he claimed that it was because his name was on a federal “watch list” of terrorists.

He has sued the Biden administration in order to “disband this illegal list” that he says is based on purely on Arab “names, ethnicities and religion,” while giving those named “no due process” to clear their names.

The lawsuit was revealed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S., which has also challenged the watch list in the past.

Khairullah has blasted his incumbent rival, Rep. Bill Pascrell, for voting to send aid to Israel to fight Hamas, and calling for a ceasefire only if Hamas releases the hostages that its fighters and other terrorists abducted during their October 7 invasion of Israel in which they massacred 1,200 people.

He has also attacked the Biden administration’s handling of “the Israeli aggression and daily massacres against the Palestinians in Gaza,” and touted his credentials as being “an outspoken advocate for immediate and permanent ceasefire and end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”

These views would put him squarely inside the so-called Squad of progressive, pro-Palestinian Congressional Democrats who have been pressuring President Joe Biden to end aid to Israel and recognize a Palestinian state.

He recently posted pictures of himself with Squad members Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) on his social media accounts.

Bowman is facing a serious primary challenge from a pro-Israel Westchester county executive, George Latimer.

Pascrell, 87, has served the 9th Congressional district since 1997. The district has a large Jewish population in such areas as Hudson, Passaic and Bergen counties. He has easily won reelection for the last 25 years.

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The organization demanded that Biden secure an ‘immediate and permanent ceasefire’ along with ‘the immediate and unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid’ in Gaza.

By Corey Walker, The Algemeiner

Anti-Israel activists are encouraging New Jersey residents participating in the Democratic primary for this year’s US presidential election to vote “uncommitted” in support of “justice for Palestine” and a “permanent ceasefire” in Gaza, in lieu of voting for President Joe Biden.

The initiative, spearheaded by the group “Vote Uncommitted New Jersey,” aims to use political pressure to change the Biden administration’s approach to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The strategy to get voters to mark “uncommitted” on their ballots mirrors other efforts by anti-Israel groups to use the Democratic primary as an outlet to signal their disgust with Biden’s support for the Jewish state.

The campaign is part of a larger effort by anti-Israel activists to portray Israel’s military response to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel as a “genocide.”

“Voting ‘Uncommitted’ will let the Democratic Party and general public know what’s at stake and how many voters they’re losing over their unwavering position on the genocide in Gaza,” the group writes on its website. “This will pressure the Biden administration to reconsider their position and call for a ceasefire.”

The group adds that Biden’s “defeat is certain” in the upcoming election against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump if he does not adopt an anti-Israel posture.

“Thousands of New Jerseyans have demanded an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people. Biden is on track to lose the election to Trump unless he chooses to listen to the working class of this country and change course. Defeat is certain if he fails to do so,” the group continues.

The organization is also demanding that Biden secure an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” along with “the immediate and unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid” in Gaza.

Wednesday is the first day when New Jersey voters can go to polling places across the state to cast early in-person ballots.

They will be able to cast votes for the presidential race, one US Senate seat, and all 12 of the state’s seats in the US House of Representatives. Voters can also choose party candidates in local and county races.

More than 235,000 people have already voted in the state using mail-in ballots. According to an official sample ballot shared with The Algemeiner, the third option listed for voters in the presidential contest — under the names of Biden and progressive activist Terrisa Bukovinac — is “Uncommitted,” under which are the words: “Justice for Palestine, Permanent Ceasefire Now.”

“Vote Uncommitted New Jersey” does not mention or condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack, which started the ongoing war in Gaza when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel, murdered 1,200 people, and kidnapped over 250 others as hostages.

Nor does it mention the significant amount of aid that has flowed into Gaza. Between March and April alone, over 10,000 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza, according to data compiled by the United Nations.

However, gangs and Hamas itself have reportedly ransacked aid trucks and stripped them of their goods, complicating relief efforts in the war-torn enclave.

Suraj Patel, an organizer with “Vote Uncommitted New Jersey” said in an interview that he believes supporting the Palestinian cause will help usher in a socialist economic system.

“From the beginning, we saw this as a campaign aligned with our socialist values,” Patel told the Democratic Socialists of America.

“What we are doing in New Jersey, deep community organizing, statewide collaboration, leadership development, I believe is the raw material for a real independent full-throated socialist party, with deep roots in labor, immigrant communities, and the multiracial working class, that can go toe to toe with the Democrats and the Republicans in our state,” he added.

In February, US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), an anti-Israel firebrand and the first Palestinian American woman in Congress, endorsed the “vote uncommitted” effort in Michigan and would not clarify whether she will support Biden’s reelection effort.

“We feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government. If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted,” Tlaib said.

Primary day in New Jersey is set for next Tuesday.

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