Jamaal Bowman hurls abuses at AIPAC in fiery speech at NYC rally, reveals why he ‘got a foul mouth’
Pro-Palestine demonstrators disrupted a joint rally held by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) on Saturday.
U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) speaks during a rally at St. Mary’s Park on June 22, 2024 in the Bronx borough of New York City.(Getty Images via AFP)
Encouraging the demonstration at the rally, Within Our Lifetime wrote on X that “THE BRONX STANDS WITH PALESTINE AGAINST SELL-OUT POLITICIANS WHO TRADE PALESTINIAN LIVES FOR VOTES.”
In a thread, the pro-Palestine organisation said that “endorsing Biden is endorsing the ongoing genocide in Gaza where over 45,000 Palestinians have been massacred in the past 8+ months. AOC has blood on her hands.”
While mentioning that AOC will be in Las Vegas to campaign for Biden amid the “genocide of Palestine”, it stated: “The Bronx will not give a warm welcome for endorsers of genocide and the movement will not accept Zionist sell-outs as our “allies”.”
The group has received backlash over demonstrations against the Brooklyn Museum, which allegedly resulted in arrests on June 1 after the museum’s artwork was allegedly vandalized. Additionally, the group has been connected to the targetting the prominent figures at the museum’s residences, by pasting a banner outside the home of the Jewish director that addressed her as a “white-supremacist Zionist.”
Reacting to their protest against the museum, New York City Mayor Eric Adams wrote: “This is not peaceful protest or free speech. This is a crime, and it’s overt, unacceptable antisemitism.”
What happened during the rally?
AOC’s campaign reports that 1,200 voters attended the rally on Saturday. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, who were in attendance, shouted “Intifada, Intifada” and “Genocide Joe has got to go.”
While carrying posters reading “For class war to free Palestine!,” the protestors called Sanders and AOC “sellouts” for not offering enough support to Palestine, NY POST reported.
According to a video uploaded on X, after the rally, the demonstrators went to the campaign buses of the politicians and started writing on them with markers and putting stickers on the paneling.
In a video posted on X, Bowman can be heard saying to the crowd at St. Mary’s Park, “People ask me why I got a foul mouth. What am I supposed to do? You coming after me. You coming after my family. You coming after my children. I’m not supposed to fight back?” As the pro-Palestine demonstration continued to interrupt the rally with chanting, he said, “We gonna show them, who the f*** we are!”
Bowman urged the throng to chant “ceasefire now” in reference to the conflict in Gaza. He attacked the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) group.
“We are gonna show f—ing AIPAC the power of the motherf—ing South Bronx,” he stated. In wake of Bowman’s criticisms of Israel, AIPAC recently launched a $14 million campaign to prevent him from being reelected.
The 16th congressional district in New York presents a challenging reelection campaign for Bowman. On June 26, he will square off against AIPAC-backed Democrat George Latimer. One of the main features of the race has been the difference in opinion between the two candidates about US assistance for Israel in its conflict with Gaza.
Sanders referred to the Bowman-Latimer contest as “one of the most important” elections in American history.
“This election is not about Jamaal vs Mr. Latimer, this election is about whether or not the billionaire class and the oligarchs will control the United States government. And I look to you to know they won’t,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez said at a Biden campaign rally in Las Vegas that people should support left-leaning issues, primarily abortion after the Dobbs ruling.
“Four more years of President Biden versus Donald Trump is quite literally the difference between life and death,” she asserted.