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October 6th, 2021 
Awake Goy In a recent interview, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) insisted that his Iron Dome vote doesn’t mean he will stop speaking out about Palestine.
Bowman was a guest on The Mehdi Hasan Show, where the MSNBC host asked him about last month’s vote to give Israel an extra $1 billion to fund its missile defense system. Hasan pointed out that the U.S. already funds the Iron Dome and that fellow “Squad”members like Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), Rep. Rashida Tlaib, (D-MI), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) all voted against the measure. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) voted present. Bowman voted yes.
Bowman told Hasan that many people in his district supported additional funding for Iron Dome.
“It’s important for me to make sure I represent everyone within my district–not just some people within my district,” said Bowman. “This was an issue was very important to many people in my district. Secondly, voting in favor of the Iron Dome defense system is not going stop me from speaking out about Palestinian rights, and for Palestinian rights, and for Palestinian humanity. There’s inhumane treatment happening towards the Palestinians. That is a fact and that is something that we have to deal with in order to ensure the self-determination of Palestinians, and the safety and security of the people of Israel going forward.”
This week pro-Israel community leader Yaacov Behrman shared a picture of him with Bowman on Twitter. “I bumped into Jamaal Bowman today,” he tweeted. “I thanked him for his vote to support the Iron Dome. He said, in addition to it being a defensive system, he was concerned that a vote against the Iron Dome could be interpreted as license to kill Jews. I agree. That’s exactly how I see it.”
Last year Bowman shocked pundits by beating Eliot Engel in New York’s 16th district primary. For decades Engel was one of the most pro-Israel Democrats in the House and pro-Israel lobbying groups spent big on his reelection campaign. Bowman positioned himself as more progressive on the issue, criticizing the occupation and voicing support for the conditioning of military aid to Israel. The congressman is a cosponsor of Rep. Betty McCollum’s (D-MN) historic H.R.2590, which looks to assure that U.S. taxpayer money is not being used to detain Palestinian children or destroy Palestinian homes.
McCollum also voted for the extra Iron Dome funding.
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