Then-US Reps. Cori Bush (left), Jamaal Bowman (right), and Rashida Tlaib (center). Tlaib is still in office. Photo: Reuters

Former US Democratic Reps. Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman praised anti-Israel organizations and encouraged left-wing activists to continue speaking up in favor of “Palestinian liberation” and against the so-called “genocide” in Gaza during the latest episode of their new show.

“I want to especially appreciate all of the organizations that are out, and when you protest you also protest to save lives in Gaza. You also are standing for Palestinian liberation; you’re also speaking up against the genocide,” Bush said on a new episode of their show, “Bowman & Bush,” on the Zeteo network.

Bush added that “what we need right now” is a mass mobilization effort behind the pro-Palestinian cause. She encouraged activists to become engaged in foreign affairs, comparing the war in Gaza to the ongoing crises in Haiti and Congo. 

In the 19 months following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages, left-wing activists across the US have organized an unremitting barrage of demonstrations condemning the Jewish state for its military response in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

US federal agencies have established a link between domestic anti-Israel protests and adversarial foreign actors such as Iran. Then-Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said in July, for example, that the Iranian regime has organized “influence efforts” to undermine trust in American institutions, adding that “actors tied to Iran’s government” encouraged and provided financial support to rampant protests opposing Israel’s defensive military operations against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

Bowman also took shots at Israel during his show, saying that liberals need to “fight for democracy everywhere,” including within the Jewish state. He slammed progressive American groups for refusing to speak up about the supposed “apartheid” to which he claimed Israel subjects Palestinians.

“If you’re fighting for American democracy you have to fight for democracy everywhere. You can’t support apartheid in one country, but American democracy here,” Bowman said. “That’s not how that works, and there’s a lot of people and a lot of organizations who are completely silent on apartheid in Israel.”

The former congressman lamented America’s close ties with Israel, accusing the Jewish state of perpetuating “white supremacy” and being an outpost of “Western imperialism.” He argued that Israel misuses American tax dollars to advance “apartheid, repression, and oppression.”

Following Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, both Bush and Bowman issued intense criticism of the Jewish state’s defensive military efforts in Gaza.

The progressive former lawmakers called for a ‘ceasefire” between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group less than a month removed from the Oct. 7 massacre. They each falsely accused Israel of engaging in an array of war crimes in Gaza, including “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and imposing a “famine.” The duo also dismissed Israel’s counterterrorism initiatives in the West Bank as “apartheid.”

Bowman specifically declared the mass rapes of Israeli women on Oct. 7 a “hoax,” before walking back his comments following widespread backlash. He has accused Israel of advancing “white nationalism” and “settler colonialism” and also suggested he may no longer support Israel’s unequivocal right to exist or defend itself. Bowman also later expressed remorse for voting in favor of Iron Dome funding, claiming that Israel weaponizes its air defense system to “continue apartheid, oppression, open-air prison, occupation, and now the genocide.”

Bush ultimately lost her reelection campaign to St. Louis attorney Wesley Bell in August while making her opposition to Israel a key talking point of the race. Bowman came up short against Westchester County executive George Latimer. 

Zeteo, the network on which “Bowman & Bush” airs, has positioned itself as a major source of anti-Israel content creation. Mehdi Hasan, the network’s founder and main host, has declared the ongoing war in Gaza a “genocide” and repeatedly pressured US lawmakers to implement an arms embargo against the Jewish state. Hosts on Zeteo have also downplayed Hamas’s attacks against Israel, oftentimes referring to the terrorist group as a “resistance.”