“One of AIPAC’s biggest donors offered $20 million if I dropped out of the U.S. Senate race to run against [Rashida Tlaib]. I said no. I won’t be bossed, bullied, or bought.” — Hill Harper, Candidate for U.S. Senate
The most progressive members of the U.S. Congress have been targeted for defeat in 2024 – but that attack has not gone unanswered. Marked for electoral elimination by well-funded political action committees, several members of the House of Representatives who dared to speak out for peace in Palestine remain defiant. Now they are rallying voters to their cause.
In Michigan, progressive forces have responded with outrage to attempts to isolate Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in the U.S. Congress.
On Nov. 7, 2023, Rep. Tlaib was censured by the U.S. House of Representatives in a resolution which viciously distorted her views on the Middle East.
This censure motion came in the midst of revelations in Michigan of the underhanded role being played by the pro-Israeli lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its subsidiaries. On Nov. 2, 2023, television ads denouncing Rep. Tlaib and distorting her record began running in the Detroit area. The ads were paid for by the Democratic Majority for Israel, a PAC created by AIPAC. The ads cost $100,000.
Days after the censure, the news broke of attempts to coax candidates to oppose Tlaib in the upcoming Michigan primary.
On Nov. 22, the publication Politico reported that Hill Harper, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, was offered $20 million by Michigan businessman Linden Nelson to run against Tlaib. (Nelson has long been associated with groups affiliated with AIPAC in its years-long efforts to unseat Tlaib.)
“I didn’t intend for a private phone call to turn public. But now that it is, here’s the truth,” Harper wrote in a post on social media after the Politico report came out. “One of AIPAC’s biggest donors offered $20 million if I dropped out of the U.S. Senate race to run against [Rashida Tlaib]. I said no. I won’t be bossed, bullied, or bought.”
On Nov. 25, businessman Nasser Beydoun, another candidate for the U.S. Senate from Michigan, revealed that AIPAC also offered him $20 million to run against Tlaib for the Democratic nomination in her Congressional district, making him the second candidate offered the pro-Israeli lobbying group’s money.
“The pro-Israel lobby will go to any length to remove anybody from the U.S. Congress that has any opposition to their agenda,” Beydoun said in a social media post.
OUTRAGE
The attacks on Tlaib were met with outrage. “This [television] ad campaign targeting Rashida Tlaib is dangerous. It should be condemned by Democrats and taken down now,” wrote the group IfNotNow, an organization formed by American Jews to oppose U.S. support for Israeli apartheid. The IfNotNow statement condemned AIPAC for using “Republican donor money to pit Jewish Democrats against Muslim Democrats.”
“We won’t let them tear our communities apart with fear-mongering,” the group vowed.
Tlaib’s censure by the U.S. House of Representatives also prompted statements from local organizations such as the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC) and the Detroit and Michigan Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
The MEJC statement noted that throughout her life Rashida Tlaib has “firmly and uncompromisingly stood with Environmental Justice communities” and therefore “MEJC stands just as firmly with Rashida as she speaks her truth in the face of a coordinated effort to silence her.”
The MEJC statement explained:
“As a Palestinian-American who grew up in Southwest Detroit, a diverse and vibrant community plagued by industrial pollution, Rashida has used her powerful voice as an activist, organizer, and Congressperson to illuminate the injustices we see every day — disproportionate health impacts, higher rates of cancer and asthma, unaffordable energy bills and frequent power outages — and to work towards a world where all of us, no matter where we live or what we look like, are afforded dignity and justice. …
“In recent weeks, Rashida has been a forceful and necessary voice calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to stop the horrific suffering and loss of civilian life. The U.S. House of Representatives has responded to her courage with cowardice and repression. The congressional vote to censure Rashida for her advocacy for the Palestinian people — her people — is a national embarrassment. MEJC condemns this vote and all attempts to silence or intimidate those advocating for peace and justice in Palestine. We stand unequivocally with Rep. Tlaib and join millions of others around the world in echoing her demand for a ceasefire and peace.”
In a statement, the Detroit and Michigan Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) also declared its “full support” for Rep. Tlaib.
Noting that Rep. Tlaib – a lawyer — is “a cherished member of the Detroit & Michigan Chapter of the NLG,” the group praised her “tireless efforts in calling for an immediate ceasefire,” calling it “a courageous and compassionate stance.”
The NLG statement condemned “any form of retaliation or reprisal against individuals, including Congresswoman Tlaib, who support the call for a ceasefire and the broader pursuit of Palestinian liberation.”
OTHER CANDIDATES TARGETED
Rep. Tlaib is not the only member of the U.S. Congress under attack.
In St. Louis, Rep. Cori Bush has come under fire. On Oct. 30, Wesley Bell, Democratic prosecutor for St. Louis County, announced that he was ending a months-long effort to defeat far-right Republican U.S. Senator Josh Hawley in order to challenge Rep. Bush for the Democratic nomination for Congress. Bell specifically cited Bush’s support for peace in Palestine as the reason for his challenge.
In Minneapolis, Rep. Ilhan Omar faces a challenge from Don Samuels, a former City Council member who Omar defeated in the last election.
In Pittsburgh, the pro-Israeli right-wing PACs are opposing U.S. Rep. Summer Lee. They are backing her opponent, Bhavini Patel, a city council member in a local suburb.
In New York, George Latimer, a Westchester county executive, is running against Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
In every case, these members of Congress have been singled because of their principled support for a ceasefire in Gaza. That fact should serve as a warning. The American people cannot allow pro-war corporate Democrats to buy their way into the U.S. Congress in 2024 through smear campaigns funded by right-wing millionaires. It’s time to speak up and get involved. We urge everyone to take part in the political primaries this spring and summer and to defend candidates who support peace, police accountability, and the interests of the working class.
Chris Mahin is a writer, speaker and teacher on contemporary U.S. politics and history, particularly on the significance of the American Revolutionary War and Civil war eras for today. He is the Electoral Desk on the People’s Tribune Editorial Board.
