Israel Lobby Takes A BEATING In Key U.S. Senate Race

The Israel lobby spent over $30 million trying to defeat Abdul Elsa in Tuesday's key Democratic Senate primary in Michigan. Um but despite all of that money, the progressive pro Palestine candidate backed by AOC and Bernie Sanders has beaten his pro-Israel rival. Um the race was still too close to call last night. In fact, it was um closer than many people had expected. Um but with Elsa marginally ahead, he said this to his assembled supporters. We all knew they were going to spend their money. We didn't know they were going to spend $70 million of their money. We didn't know that they were going to outspend us $11 to $1. And yet we're still standing. They want to tell us that here in Michigan we're a purple state. That somehow everybody walks around wondering, I wonder where I stand on a left right spectrum. when really up and down the state what you hear is I wonder how I can afford my rent. I wonder how I can afford my groceries. I don't know what'll happen if I get sick because I can't afford my deductible. >> So, as you heard there, like Mandani in New York, Elsa pitched his candidacy on the cost of living um and tackling corporate power. And which is why it wasn't just the Israel lobby that campaigned against him. $70 billion figure he cited included all the opposition money that went into his into into Michigan, sorry, to oppose um his candidacy in that race. So from the Israel lobby and I suppose from the corporate lobby. Um it all made this the most expensive Democratic primary in history. Like no comparison yet it failed. Um Abdul Elsa is uh on or or got 48.5%. his Apacbacked rival Haley Stevens got 47.5 and Mallerie McMurro um a centrist candidate who had in fact already dropped out by the time people went to the polls um got 4%. Um so as I say much closer actually than the polls have been suggesting they suggested that Elsid might win by quite a bit. Um Elside is for his part a very accomplished candidate. He's a medical doctor. He's a road scholar. Um which is very prestigious for an American politician. Means you go study in Oxford for a bit. Um, and he's outspoken on Palestine. >> You struggle for the health care you need. And meanwhile, our government sends a foreign country of 10 million people, that's like the size of the state of Michigan, billions of our tax dollars every single year. And then to watch that country do a genocide on top of the aparthide that it does on baseline, and then take us to a war that we had no business fighting. That is astounding. It's astonishing. And then to realize that there is the attempt to normalize a political action committee whose key goal it is to align our foreign policy with the foreign policy interests of that country and then to be told you can't talk about it because you know if you do it's because of your animist for anyone group of people is insane. And so, you know, I'm I'm not going to stand idly by while we betray our own morals by backstopping apartheid and genocide. I'm not going to stand idly by while I got kids who I was responsible for taking care of in Wayne County in Detroit who go to school in school buildings that are not befitting of their little minds and then to say that no, I'm I'm not going to talk about it. So, Israel is an affordability issue. Now, you can see why that's a candidate the Israel lobby didn't want in the Senate. And who did they back to take him on? Um, well, her stance on Israel is not exactly subtle. >> And in the United States Congress, I will continue to fight for the people of Israel. I will continue to fight for Israel's existence. Israel comes to ME IN MY DREAMS. I SEE ISRAEL'S FUTURE. AND I KNOW THAT ISRAEL WILL CONTINUE TO EXIST FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE. >> ISRAEL COMES TO ME IN MY DREAMS. >> BONKERS. Um that >> she almost won. Michael that that crazy person almost won. >> So that wasn't her speaking during the That was her speaking in December 2023. So before this primary and gives an indication of why Apac would feel so keen um on her winning the race. In fact, in the campaign though, she tried to, I suppose, change the subject from speaking about Israel. >> There's been some um inflammatory rhetoric uh from my opponent throughout this race. He's made this whole race about Israel and Apac, and I have made it about lowering costs for Michiganders, about standing up for the state that we love. Now, of course, accepting a record-breaking amount from Apac and then complaining that Israel becomes a campaigning issue um is the definition of wanting your cake and eating it. And it seems that many mission genders were unimpressed. Uh the one issue that seemed to be the most salient, the most uh elicit the most passion from people certainly was her stance on Israel and her support for taxpayer dollars continuing to be used to support uh the Israeli military. I want to play you portions of my conversations with voters here today. Um, and I'll start with that point specifically. This is what a voter had to say when uh she learned that uh Haley Stevens uh rather relative to Abdul say supports uh US support for Israel. Take a listen. >> I just wouldn't want a single of our family's taxpaying dollars to go towards something like that. It's like giving money to violence. So, would you support a Senate candidate, in this case, Haley Stevens, who's more of a but more of a moderate like you tend to like, but is would that be enough? >> That would definitely that would definitely turn me off as a 100% I I couldn't I couldn't I would vote for a a communist for >> She'd vote for a communist before um she votes for someone who supports giving money to Israel. Um Aaron, I mean, this race was much closer than people thought. I mean, lots of this is about expectations management, right? If people had thought that Haley was going to win and then Elsa eesks out a victory, it would be just this dramatic upset. But because the polls had shown that Elsa or the polls had suggested that Elsa would win comfortably by 10 or 15 points, everyone's saying, "Oh, this was a disappointing result." But I mean, the fact that someone was targeted with over $30 million by Apac, like a record-breaking sum for a Democratic primary, and wins. Um, that does suggest that support for Israel has become a liability. >> Well, I don't know about a liability, but it's certainly not a necessity, uh, as is evidenced from this outcome. But you know what, Michael? Money goes a really long way. as people on the left, we've heard this for a really long time now, right? You could go back to Obama actually. He said the same thing. They have the they have the power, we have the people. Bernie would say, you know, they have the millionaires, we have the millions. Uh which is true. It sounds great. And sometimes it's it's it's what actually happens. It's what works out like happened here. But money goes a very long way in politics. If you've got money to buy adverts and to get literature out and to do paid social media hits, it goes a really, really long way. And so for him to win despite tens of millions of dollars being thrown against him is an extraordinary political accomplishment. I think it could be an inflection point actually in in in US foreign policy. If it's now if it's now the case that you can do this in trying to defend Israeli interest in American politics and you don't necessarily win, people are clearly going to reccalibrate what they do. And I think that that's most obviously the the case with centrist Democrats. You know, centrist Democrats now will slightly calibrate doesn't mean they'll be anti-Israel. They'll slightly no, they'll say one or two more critical things of Israel and the whole political tenor of the debate in that country just moves slightly away from the interest of Tel Aviv. So [snorts] it's a huge huge result um particularly for Democrats in the White House uh after the next election. And you know, we're seeing repeatedly now, we're seeing articles all over the place, New York Times, Washington Post, you know, the DSA, people are really worried about them. And they're really worried because they're now finally, they've been around for a bit. They're now finally remaking the kind of basic foundations and grassroots of of progressive and democratic politics politics in the United States. A huge deal. You know, we're not talking about one or two outsiders anymore. We're talking about a fundamental remaking of the common sense around foreign policy in America. >> I mean, obviously Elsid still has to win the actual race um against Michigan against the Republic. Well, it's going to be close. >> He should if national polling is to be believed, right? >> Sneaky Fish says those funds for Stevens will now find their way to the Republican, which is true. So, if this was a record-breaking primary, it's probably going to be a record-breaking race. Obviously, the midterms are the beginning of November. So Elside will face a Republican candidate, a gentleman called Rogers, who quite frankly I don't know much about. >> So generally midterms aren't good for the incumbent generally, but also obviously Trump may not be particularly popular by the midterms. Um he is obviously always very popular with his hardcore base, but depending where inflation is at, where Iran is at. I think on balance you you would you would imagine the Democratic candidate would win in somewhere like Michigan, which just went Trump in the general. Uh but you know I think Palestine is what did it for for uh for the Democrats in terms of not winning it last time. So if if look gun to my head if I had to call it I've never been to Michigan but from the the data I'm I'm familiar with I think he would be the most likely person to win that race. And if he does win it, he is, you know, there are some candidates who sort of like have interesting sort of DSA style politics where you're sort of like I'm not sure loads of exposure is going to make them more popular across the United States. But there are people like Manny who the more you see him, the more you like him. And I think that Abdul Alside is is similar. He's someone where when you watch him, you think like he is the real deal. This is a smart guy with answers that are always convincing. Um, there's a governor candidate in one of the nearby states who's kind of DSA backed. I keep seeing videos of her where she sort of in the past said they shouldn't have Thanksgiving or Halloween or various kind of stuff that probably isn't going to go down very well. So, I'm not sure I'm not quite sure I don't know so much about it, but I'm not quite sure how much sort of exposure is going to help in that situation. But exposure with Abdel Abdul say I think is always a good thing. >> I I love it when people say that was a long time ago. Youthful exuberance. Ma'am, you were 35 years old when you said that. [laughter] But two quick things. First of all, he looks like a Navara media contributor in that black t-shirt, which I I think is great. Uh secondly, he he made a claim there. He had a line. He said Israel is an affordability issue. I love that. We need to we need to appropriate that in this country. Foreign policy is an affordability issue. you know, the conflict that's going on right now and the straight off our moves and what it's doing to energy prices globally. Um, persistently our behavior with Central Asia, West Asia has contributed to the refugee crisis, whether it's Afghanistan, whether it's sanctions on Iran. You know, we should be buying energy from Iran. We in Britain should be saying to the Iranians, end the executions of political prisoners. In exchange, we'll buy energy from you. Okay? Win-win. If you say that, by the way, out there. If you say that on the BBC, you're you you're toast. You know, you're toast. It's quite a common sense thing, right? Well, hold on. We can stop political prisoners being killed and we can get cheaper energy. But actually, common sense isn't that common when it comes to the British media. You could do 101 things like that. And by the way, I think we we will end up in a place like that with many of these countries. You just have to go through the whole rigma roll of pretending otherwise.