Written By: Justin K.P.
In New York, three candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani won primaries against establishment Democrats, Brad Lander defeated Representative Daniel Goldman for New York’s 10th Congressional District, Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated Adriano Espaillat in NY congressional district 13, and Claire Valdez won New York’s 7th Congressional District against Antonio Reynoso.
This election, beyond anything, was a referendum against the Israel lobby and its role in Democratic politics, and the Israel lobby lost.
Zohran Mamdani correctly called AIPAC “monsters”, and “denounced the pro-Israel lobby’s spending in a New York primary election race, saying AIPAC spends ‘millions in dark money’”.
While AIAPC spent money to keep in Zionist democratic candidates, they were beaten by the Mamdani-endorsed candidates in each case.
Dan Goldman- according to the campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets, has been given $194,489 from AIAPC and $348,546 in total from pro Zionist groups over the course of his political career.
He was defeated by the Mamdani-endorsed Brad Lander.
Lander has faced criticism from anti-Zionists for opposing BDS and increasing NYC pension fund investments in Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer that played a large role in the Gaza genocide, when he was Comptroller.
With that said, Lander made rejecting money from AIPAC a large part of his campaign, promising that “He would not do ‘AIPAC’s bidding’ in Washington.”
Adriano Espaillat was similarly primarily bankrolled by the Zionist lobby.
Open Secrets documented that he received $149,816 from AIPAC and $204,116 from pro-Israel interests over his career.
He was defeated by Darializa Avila Chevalier , an actual anti-Zionist who had said “I’m an anti-Zionist full stop” and has a long history of activism in support of Palestine, including joining , “Students for Justice in Palestine in 2014 after a summer internship in the West Bank city of Nablus” and co founding “Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a campaign aimed at coercing the Ivy League school to cut financial ties with Israel”.
Antonio Reynoso received money more indirectly from the Zionist lobby, taking money from “several donors who have also supported AIPAC,” including James Shalom, Jane Buckingham, Elizabeth Velez, Blair Effron, and Nicole Mutchnik, a chair of the Zionist Anti-Defamation League.
The Zohran Mamdani supported Claire Valdez explicitly called out Antonio Reynoso for this and said, “We do not support AIPAC. We do not play with AIPAC” during the campaign, and ended up defeating Antonio Reynoso.
Whether one agrees with or likes everything these candidates stand for or not, it is undoubtedly a significant development that in three primaries, the Zionist lobby-backed candidates lost to candidates who made rejecting Israel lobby money a central plank of their campaign.
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No it’s not. The Democrats have made a structural commitment to oligarchic money, to corruption. AIPAC is just another special interest group. They are finding other ways to continue to monetize. Get a grip. The corruption of Congress has been in development since Reagan. And it has been very successful. The Empire has become the primary focus and project of Congress. Regardless of party. Israel and its corrupting influence are merely a distraction. A problem of PR, of public perception. Under the skin it is all still happening. Real change, to dig up the roots, must be an organic real movement. Pursuing state by state free healthcare, would be an excellent rallying point. Every poll shows. The People want free Healthcare. Now. It is the perfect wedge issue and it is desperately needed!
It’s about time.