The primary for New York’s 16th congressional district, which takes place on Tuesday, has drawn record-breaking spending, with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) and a crypto-currency Super Pac behind the lion’s share of the funding.

The two are battling to represent a district that spans parts of the Bronx and Westchester county. Latimer is leading in polling, and if he wins, he will be the first challenger to successfully unseat a member of the progressive “Squad”.

The huge haul of outside spending – most of it funding ads attacking Bowman and supporting Latimer – underscores Bowman’s precarious position as a high-profile “Squad” member whose criticism of Israel and outspoken support for Palestinian rights has drawn the ire of the pro-Israel lobby.

But the race is more than a referendum on Israel-Palestine policy. It’s also a test of the fledgling progressive wing of the Democratic party, whose ranks Bowman joined after winning an upset primary victory in 2020 and defeating former representative Eliot Engel, an incumbent who had held the office since 1989.

Among Bowman’s highest-profile supporters are the senator Bernie Sanders and the representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (known as AOC), who will appear at a rally on Saturday to turn out voters for the incumbent. Meanwhile, Latimer has earned the support of the former secretary of state and Democratic party establishment stalwart Hillary Clinton.

  • aubeynarf@lemmynsfw.com
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    8 days ago

    You say the word “genocide” over and over, but what does that mean? I find figures of 35,000 killed out of >5M Palestinians - that’s 0.7% of the Palestinian population.

    I don’t like Israel’s aggression, and civilian deaths are not acceptable. But does that honestly measure up to the term “genocide”?

    • WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Ah yes we should wait for the number of deaths/displacements to get higher to call it a genocide and only then do something to stop it. And I’m not entirely sure but that 35,000 figure is just the number of civilians killed in this current conflict, not accounting for the number killed over the many years this issue has been going on and not accounting for the people who have been kicked out of their homes to make way for Israeli settlers.

    • kaffiene@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      It fits the definition of Genocide. Experts in the UN say it’s a genocide. Human rights organisations say it’s Genocide. The ICC says there’s a prima facie case that it’s Genocide. Unless you have some unique perspective to add here I’m just going to assume that you’re a Genocide apologist

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Yes because it’s the intent that matters. The international agreements around Genocide are focused on preventing a holocaust, not labeling it after another one occurs. Israel has also engaged with the international aid community in bad faith from day one, creating the famine conditions that now exist in Gaza. So they’ve gone beyond just committing war crimes with 2,000 pound bombs into populated apartment buildings.

      • aubeynarf@lemmynsfw.com
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        7 days ago

        Given their military capability and (according to givesomefucks) the complete support of “both sides”, if they have the intent, they are doing an absolutely terrible job.

        Maybe genocide isn’t their intent.

        Look at Rwanda for what “intent” means.

    • zerog_bandit@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      You’re not getting a response because the only way Hamas-defenders can try to defend the slaughter of Israelis is by appealing to poorly educated, emotional people.