How Jamaal Bowman Lost My Vote | Opinion

My first interaction with Jamaal Bowman was in 2021. I was advocating for schools to fully re-open after they closed in the early days of the pandemic. A year later, many were still closed or operating with dysfunctional hybrid schedules, yet it was no longer possible to ignore the detrimental toll remote “learning” was having on the most vulnerable children in our communities. Many other countries and states had already reopened schools, or had never closed them, and as an essential worker, I was well aware that the risk of COVID-19 to kids was minimal. I joined a group of parents desperately trying to get vulnerable kids back to school.

We repeatedly reached out to our congressman, Jamaal Bowman. But he was the opposite of receptive. When he did respond to our queries, it was with a flippant tone, like many other progressives. He would sometimes reply to us on Twitter, and I remember him saying that it was better for kids to be suffering from being out of school than for them to be dead, or for their teachers to get sick.

This is true, of course, and I am aware Rep. Bowman suffered his own COVID losses. Yet the way in which he minimized our concerns as parents was notable. And he continued to toe the school lockdown line, even after teachers were prioritized for the vaccine.

I didn’t think much about him after that—until October 7. That’s when his flippant disregard for the concerns of parents curdled into something much more sinister, and I could no longer extend the benefit of the doubt to him.

A mere month after Hamas‘ brutal attack against Israel, during which militants mass murdered and mass raped, burning men, women, and children—entire families—to death, Bowman was already accusing Israel of propaganda, which was the word he used to refer to the well-documented rapes of Israeli women (after his poll numbers started to tank, he apologized for calling Hamas rapes “propaganda”).

Jews in his district and around the country started to notice how he would regurgitate the Hamas-led “Gaza Ministry of Health” talking points—yet would deny or ignore the trauma endured day by Israelis. He called for one sided ceasefires, rarely if ever mentioning the hundreds of hostages still being held by Hamas, and he ignored rising antisemitism in his own district and throughout the country.

After George Latimer, a Democratic politician with deep roots in Westchester County, entered the race against him, Bowman became singularly focused on AIPAC and their funding for his primary opponent, which was significant. It never seemed to have occurred to him or his many defenders on the Left that maybe AIPAC was spending millions to unseat him because of his gross antisemitism.

And it is antisemitism. He accused Jews of living in “segregated” communities, according to Politico, invoking the racism of the South. “There’s certain places where the Jews live and concentrate,” Bowman said. “Scarsdale, parts of White Plains, parts of New Rochelle, Riverdale. I’m sure they made a decision to do that for their own reasons … but this is why, in terms of fighting antisemitism, I always push — we’ve been separated and segregated and miseducated for so long. We need to live together, play together, go to school together, learn together, work together.”

Apparently, Jews living in communities where they can pray and educate their kids is too much for Jamaal Bowman, and justifies antisemitism!

The quote revealed that the obsession with Israel is about more than Israel’s defensive war against Gaza. Despite the host of issues we’re dealing with in our district—homelessness, drug abuse, the border, education, housing, healthcare—Bowman is singularly obsessed with the world’s one Jewish state—and the Jews living in his state.

This past Saturday, he held a rally with progressive stars Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, which seemed focused on passionately decrying AIPAC. Does Rep. Bowman really think his constituents care so much about the pro-Israel lobbying group? For sure, a discussion should be had on political donations by Super PACs, but focusing on only this one? He even lost J Street’s endorsement, and they are far from AIPAC ideologically.

Why doesn’t Bowman discuss his accomplishments during his first two terms or items he’d like to work on going forward?

It feels creepy that Bowman thinks that doubling down on “the Jews” will help his terrible polling. (Maybe he is looking past this election—to a job with UNRWA, perhaps.)

Jews around the world are traumatized, not only by what happened on 10/7 but by the response of much of the world immediately after. There were celebrations, calls for ceasefire even before Israel retaliated, and constant gaslighting about what is and isn’t antisemitism. Hint: We’re not cool with you spraying graffiti on our businesses, harassing and assaulting our college students, defacing our synagogues, and threatening us with calls for resistance “by any means necessary.”

Many of us also want this war to end—but making assumptions about American Jews (that we all live together, as Bowman suggested) or blaming them for the actions of a foreign government is something everyone would know to frown upon if it were any other group.

Bowman may maintain that he is not an antisemite, but his singular focus on Israel in a diverse district dealing with so many problems is telling.

Here’s the real truth: Having AIPAC as a bogeyman is saving Rep. Bowman from having to talk about his meager accomplishments in office.

I have always voted for Democrats. I was born and raised in New York City and have always loved the diversity of this city. I remember going to college upstate and immediately noticing the lack of diversity, which felt very strange and inauthentic. I have family in Israel, but we are not religious and tend to be politically Left leaning or centrist. But the past nine months have made Jews like myself reflect more on our own identities and seek solidarity within the community in ways we hadn’t before.

There are now Jewish university groups where parents join in order to know where it’s safe to send their kids. Synagogues are sites of violence, in the name of Gaza. On X, many Jews remark that there is a new Charlottesville every day.

Mr. Bowman ignores all of that and instead complains about being the victim of dark money. He calls Israel “the Zionist entity.” But without even involving Israel, shouldn’t this American congressman be concerned about protecting his constituents in his own district from antisemitism?

No, because he can’t help but to scream about Jewish money all day.

For these reasons, I proudly cast my ballot for George Latimer, and encourage my neighbors to do the same.

Ilana Horowitz is a social worker in New York City.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.