As Maxine Dexter Touts Progressive Values, Conservative Donors are Flooding Her Campaign Coffers
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- Written by TAYLOR GRIGGS | Portland Mercury TAYLOR GRIGGS | Portland Mercury
- Published: 18 May 2024 18 May 2024
Over the past two weeks, it’s become clear that Maxine Dexter’s campaign to represent Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District in the United States House has been the beneficiary of millions in donations from political action committees (PACs) with unknown contributors.
Dexter’s campaign has also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent contributions from individual, out-of-state donors—many of whom have donated to Republican candidates and pro-Israel groups in the past. Millions in PAC money has gone toward mailer ads attacking Susheela Jayapal, Dexter’s top opponent in the race.
Jayapal and Eddy Morales, another candidate in the race, have both spoken out strongly against the recent flood of donations. Jayapal and Morales—along with dozens of Portland voters—say Dexter hasn’t condemned the dark money spending strongly enough.
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Israel’s Meddling in US Politics Is Aggressive and Unceasing
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- Written by BRANKO MARCETIC | Jacobin BRANKO MARCETIC | Jacobin
- Published: 18 May 2024 18 May 2024
For all the periodic meltdowns about foreign interference in US elections and politics by countries like Russia, it’s actually Israel, a nominal ally, that has done far more meddling in American politics — with far more influence.
The fact is that Israeli political meddling in the United States has gone from an open secret in Washington to more-or-less public knowledge nationwide under Netanyahu’s leadership — something complained about by media commentators, US officials, intelligence officers, and prominent Jewish public figures. More and more, this political interference is not so much linked back to the Israeli government as a whole but to its most right-wing factions. And its scale, frequency, and power far outdo the meddling of any other foreign power, making Israel, in practice, closer to an adversarial state than a friendly one.
Read more: Israel’s Meddling in US Politics Is Aggressive and Unceasing
Dark Money Casts a Shadow on Maxine Dexter’s Campaign
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- Written by KEVIN FOSTER | Portland Mercury KEVIN FOSTER | Portland Mercury
- Published: 14 May 2024 14 May 2024
In one of Oregon’s most progressive congressional districts, anonymous super PAC money and tensions over Israel’s war in Gaza have taken the spotlight.
As a wave of nearly $3 million in dark money enters Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District race, voters are questioning the donors backing Maxine Dexter’s campaign, and whether the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is among them.
A political action committee (PAC) known as 314 Action Fund, has spent $1.67 million to support Dexter's campaign. Dexter is a current state representative now seeking election to Congress. The PAC claims its mission is to elect Democrats with a background in science.
While Dexter is a physician, this level of spending on one candidate is unprecedented for 314.
The money trail came under heightened scrutiny late last week, after The Intercept reported on claims from two anonymous Democratic members of Congress who say AIPAC was discreetly funneling money through 314 to target Susheela Jayapal’s campaign in favor of Dexter.
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AIPAC IS SECRETLY INTERVENING IN PORTLAND’S CONGRESSIONAL RACE TO TAKE DOWN SUSHEELA JAYAPAL, SOURCES SAY
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- Written by Ryan Grim | The Intercept Ryan Grim | The Intercept
- Published: 03 May 2024 03 May 2024
The pro-Israel group is funneling money through a “pro-science” PAC, according to two members of Congress.
And what The Intercept can reveal is that Susheela Jayapal is being targeted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, which is secretly funneling money into the race by washing it through 314 Action, according to two Democratic members of Congress familiar with the arrangement.
The pro-Israel community telegraphed its intent to target Jayapal early on, primarily for suspicion that her politics on Israel–Palestine may align with her younger sister’s, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who called for a ceasefire early in the current war on Gaza.
Read more on The Intercept.
Anatomy of a Genocide
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- Written by Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese
- Published: 29 April 2024 29 April 2024
Anatomy of a Genocide – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 to Human Rights Council – Advance unedited version (A/HRC/55/73)
March 24, 2024
After five months of military operations, Israel has destroyed Gaza. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 13,000 children. Over 12,000 are presumed dead and 71,000 injured, many with life-changing mutilations. Seventy percent of residential areas have been destroyed. Eighty percent of the whole population has been forcibly displaced. Thousands of families have lost loved ones or have been wiped out. Many could not bury and mourn their relatives, forced instead to leave their bodies decomposing in homes, in the street or under the rubble. Thousands have been detained and systematically subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. The incalculable collective trauma will be experienced for generations to come.
By analysing the patterns of violence and Israel’s policies in its onslaught on Gaza, this report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met. One of the key findings is that Israel’s executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted jus in bello principles, subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.
Read the full report here.