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2022-08-04 Home Front: Politix
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AIPAC-backed Stevens ousts Levin in Michigan race seen as bellwether on US-Israel politics after supporters post/remove anti-Zionist TikTok video; poll: 2/3rds of Dems, 91% of Repubs don’t support BDS
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[IsraelTimes] Michigan progressive Levin notes opponent spent 5 times more than his campaign due to ’outside money,’ alluding to pro-Israel lobby, but pledges to support Stevens in November vote
A Jewish political dynasty’s four-decade run in Congress has come to an end after Rep. Andy Levin conceded to Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s 11th congressional district Tuesday.
Stevens’ decisive win concluded a bank-busting primary that attracted more than $4 million in pro-Israel outside spending to a face-off between two incumbents in the bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit
... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang...
suburbs.
"She ran a strong campaign," Levin told his supporters. "My hat’s off to her." He pledged to support Stevens in the general election.
In his concession speech, Levin did not mention the role that spending by the political action committee founded this year by AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, played in his loss. But he did mention that Stevens’ supporters outspent his own by a factor of five to one, thanks to "outside money."
Stevens drew significant support from a PAC founded to support women candidates and was seen as favored from the beginning because of the new district’s map. But with nearly half of the outside spending coming from AIPAC’s PAC, United Democracy Project, the race also emerged as a battleground over US-Israel politics — made more poignant as AIPAC backed the non-Jewish candidate over the Jewish one.
A JINO
Not all Jews are Zionists. Just the smart ones.
In addition to ending a Michigan Jewish political dynasty that has lasted since Levin’s uncle Carl was elected to the Senate in 1979, Levin’s loss means the wing of the Democratic party that is most critical of Israel is losing its most outspoken Jewish ally in the House of Representatives.
"Especially for young Jews, Andy was our candidate," Levi Teitel, a local organizer with the Jewish pro-Paleostinian group IfNotNow, told JTA. "He championed the issues we care about: climate justice, the need to forge peace between Israelis and Paleostinians."
For AIPAC, that result is something to celebrate. Despite drawing criticism for its spending in this year’s primaries, the first time the pro-Israel lobby has supported candidates directly, AIPAC has unapologetically stood behind the candidates it believes to be most beneficial to the US-Israel relationship — even, as in Michigan’s 11th District when it means opposing a Jewish incumbent.
Levin, who was backed by J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby, is vocally critical of Israel and authored a "Two-State Solution Act" this session that would restrict how Israel could use US aid, has been in AIPAC’s crosshairs. AIPAC’s former director David Victor, a Detroit resident, called Levin "arguably the most corrosive member of Congress to the US-Israel relationship." He also said in a letter to prospective donors in January that "less engaged fellow wardheelers may take [Levin] at his word" on Israel because of his Jewish credentials.
In the waning days of his campaign, rather than try to win over the voters that AIPAC had sought to mobilize, Levin instead drew attention to his Israel politics. He held a rally with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
 ...The only first openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords. He ran for the 2016 nomination for president, to be cheated out of it by Hillary Clinton, then went back to being an Independent socialist, waiting for 2020 to roll around...
and Representative Rashida Tlaib and did a virtual event with Peter Beinart of Jewish Currents, three figures who are critical of Israel and its treatment of the Paleostinians and largely despised by the hardline pro-Israel crowd.
"I’m really Jewish," Levin said on MSNBC last week. "But AIPAC can’t stand the idea that I am the clearest strongest Jewish voice in Congress standing for a simple proposition: that there’s no way to have a secure democratic homeland for the Jewish people unless we achieve the political and human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty ...
for the Paleostinian people."
On Tuesday night at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac, volunteers and young campaign staffers wearing "Jews For Levin" shirts commiserated with Levin supporters of a variety of races and ages. Outside, the rock band Coheed and Cambria was playing a loud gig to a parking lot full of headbangers.
Though Levin was fighting a variety of uphill factors in the race, including a redrawn district that covered much of Stevens’ territory, his Jewish supporters laid the blame for his loss squarely on AIPAC’s spending.
"Andy is actually very close to the center of gravity of the American Jewish community," Eva Borgwardt, a Levin volunteer who drove from her parents’ home in Missouri to knock on doors for the campaign and who had written invective against AIPAC in red ink on her arm, told JTA.
Not really, no. But it’s very human to define where one stands as the center, especially for those driven by feelings instead of actual facts. "This is an attempt from AIPAC to send a very clear message that if you are an American Jew for Paleostinian rights, we will destroy you."
Nah, they aren’t prejudiced. If you are a non-Jewish American politician who occupies the same anti-Israel territory, they’ll express their opinions on the subject by supporting your pro-Israel opponent, regardless of your or their faith/race/ethnicity. Matt Nosanchuk, the president and executive director of the progressive Jewish group New York Jewish Agenda, is Levin’s brother-in-law and flew into Michigan to campaign for him.
"Ultimately AIPAC may enjoy a victory in the short term, but I think they need to think hard about the political space they’re shutting down through their efforts and their money," Nosanchuk said.
Oh. So it’s perfectly ok for you to push your agenda, but not for AIPAC to do the same — because Israel is icky. Gotcha. For its part, AIPAC was eager to claim victory Tuesday night, tweeting that Stevens was "the 10th AIPAC-backed Democrat to defeat a challenger who sought to undermine America’s partnership with our ally Israel." (So far this year, one AIPAC-backed candidate has lost).
Making the Democrats more sensible, on candidate at a time. The group added, "Being pro-Israel is both good policy and good politics!"
AIPAC also poured more than $4 million into a different Michigan race, in the 13th District, to support Adam Hollier against a billionaire state senator, Shri Thanedar, who funded his own campaign and whom AIPAC considered a threat because he once introduced anti-Israel legislation. That race had not been called Tuesday night.
Michigan Democratic group apologizes for TikTok video attacking ‘Zionists’
[IsraelTmes] Ahead of hotly contested US primary, local partisan group says clip mentioning AIPAC campaign spending and saying ‘Zionists have no place in office’ was ‘completely inappropriate’.
The chair of a county Democratic Party in Michigan apologized after the group made a social media post reading “Zionists have no place in office,” apparently meant to support a member of the US Congress, Rep. Andy Levin, who identifies as a Zionist.
But as we all know, identifying as is not at all the same as being. Washtenaw County Democratic Party chair Chris Savage issued an apology Saturday for the TikTok post, which was sent Friday by the @WashtenawDems account and referenced the millions of dollars’ worth of pro-Israel money that has flowed into Michigan’s 11th District primary. The race, a redistricting battle between progressive Jewish member Levin and centrist non-Jewish Rep. Haley Stevens, concludes Tuesday.
The party group has since deleted the post, but a screenshot of it was shared on social media by Jordan Acker, a Jewish Democrat who is an elected member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents. It contains the text “Zionists have no place in office” under a headline reading “AIPAC VS ANDY LEVIN” and a hashtag reading “#nastywoman” with a devil-horns emoji.
“Naturally, I was troubled by this,” Levin told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I was grateful for the Washtenaw Dems’ swift action and apology.”
The post, which Acker later said was made by a college student, was notable for arriving in the thick of a Democratic primary season that has been largely defined by how thoroughly Israel has taken center stage in even local races. AIPAC has demonstrated a willingness to spend enormous sums of money to back their preferred candidates, who support hardline pro-Israel policies, over more liberal opponents.
Poll: Over a quarter of Democrats feel Biden administration too supportive of Israel
[IsraelTimes] Figure is at 9% among Republicans; meanwhile, 33% of Democrats support the pro-Palestinian BDS movement, compared to 9% of Republicans
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