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Michael Arria

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (Photo: William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire/Getty Images)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is facing a primary challenge from New York City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, a centrist who was a registered Republican up until 2008. In an interview, Cabrera says he was inspired to run in response to Ocasio-Cortez’s “embrace of socialism” and her views towards Israel. “Even more than specific issues, like BDS, it’s the culture that she’s trying to shape that I think would be detrimental to the Jewish community,” said Cabrera.

Numerous polls suggest that support for Israel is weakening among Democratic voters. Among Democrats, sympathy for Israel is weaker than it was before Mr. Netanyahu took office in 2009. A Gallup poll from earlier this year asked voters whether they were inclined to support Israel or Palestine and found that just 43% of Democrats are partial to Israel. That’s the lowest number in 14 years. A recent Data for Progress poll found that 65% of Democratic voters support conditioning military aid to Israel in response to its human rights record. An October report from the centrist Center for American Progress ended up with an even higher number when they posed the question: 71% of Democratic voters support such a move.

(Photo: Twitter/JVP Action)

At the California Democratic Party’s fall convention on November 17, activists pushed a resolution that would have recognized the Palestinian right of return. Although the amendment ultimately failed to be voted into the platform, supporters point to the fact that no vote tally was actually taken and that the results could have been too close to call.

Zak Witus is a member of IfNotNow and a graduate student in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. He told Mondoweiss that the group decided to target Schakowsky because she’s “a great moral leader on so many human rights issues, both for her district and the Chicago Jewish community in particular.” He pointed out that Schakowsky opposed the Trump administration’s embassy move, condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to block Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and co-authored an op-ed with Omar about confronting the threat of white nationalism. “Not another penny of taxpayer money should fund another Israeli home demolition or bomb that wipes out an entire family in Gaza,” said Witus, “We think that Jan agrees, and so her committing to defunding the occupation should be a no brainer.”

Activists occupy Re. Jan Schakowsky's office. (Photo: US Palestinian Community Network Twitter)

Members of Jewish Voice for Peace, American Friends Service Committee, and other constituents occupied the office of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL 9th District) and called on her to support a congressional bill that promotes human rights for children in Palestine. The protesters read a list of 271 Palestinian children who have been arrested and detained by the Israeli military, as well as a list of the 8 children killed in Israel’s recent attack on Gaza.