Wesley Bell defeats ‘Squad’ member Cori Bush. A pro-Israel group spent $8.5 million to help oust her

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Wesley Bell defeats ‘Squad’ member Cori Bush. A pro-Israel group spent $8.5 million to help oust her

2024-08-07 12:18 Last Updated At：12:21

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell has defeated U.S. Rep. Cori Bush in a Democratic primary in St. Louis, marking the second time this year that one of the party’s incumbents has been ousted in an expensive contest that reflected deep divisions over the war in Gaza.

Bush, a member of the progressive congressional group known as the “Squad,” was seeking a third term in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, which includes St. Louis city and part of St. Louis County. Bell is heavily favored to carry this overwhelmingly Democratic district in November, when his party is aiming to retake control of the U.S. House.

“I am committed to serving the St. Louis region in Congress with integrity, transparency, and dedication,” Bell said in a statement. “Together, we will tackle the challenges ahead and build a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”

Bush, in a fiery concession speech, said she still has work to do, even if she'll no longer be in Congress.

“At the end of the day, whether I’m a congresswoman or not, I’m still taking care of my people,” Bush said.

Bell’s campaign received a big boost from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose super political action committee, United Democracy Project, spent $8.5 million to oust Bush. She was targeted after repeated criticism of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

It was a gameplan that worked earlier this year in New York. In June, United Democracy Project spent $15 million to defeat another Squad member — U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman. Bowman lost to George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist.

A statement from United Democracy Project said the wins by Bell and Latimer, along with John McGuire's defeat of U.S. Rep. Bob Good in a Republican primary last week in Virginia, “is further proof that being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics on both sides of the aisle. UDP will continue our efforts to support leaders working to strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance while countering detractors in either political party.”

Bush, in her concession speech, said she won't change.

“We will keep supporting a free Palestine,” Bush said. A crowd member answered back: “Free, free Palestine.”

In October, Bush called the Israeli retaliation an “ethnic cleansing campaign.” Soon after the Hamas attack, Bush wrote on social media that Israel’s “collective punishment against Palestinians for Hamas’s actions is a war crime.”

Her comments prompted backlash, even among some supporters in her district. Bell, who had been planning a Senate run against incumbent Republican Josh Hawley, instead opted to challenge Bush. He told The Associated Press last month that Bush’s comments about Israel were “wrong and offensive.”

Bush responded by saying that the donors behind AIPAC support former President Donald Trump and other Republicans.

“This is only the beginning,” Bush told the AP. “Because if they can unseat me, then they’re going to continue to come after more Democrats.”

Bush and Bell both honed their leadership skills in Ferguson, Missouri, in the unrest that followed Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a police officer in 2014. Friday marks the 10th anniversary of Brown’s death.

Brown, a Black 18-year-old, was walking with a friend on Aug. 9, 2014, when a white officer, Darren Wilson, confronted them. Wilson said he fired in self-defense because Brown was so enraged. Some witnesses said Brown, who was unarmed, had his hands up in surrender. Wilson was cleared of wrongdoing and resigned, and Brown’s death led to months of protests.

Bush, 48, became a protest leader. She was outspoken and critical of how police in Ferguson and other parts of the St. Louis region treated Black people. Her activism prompted an unsuccessful run against longtime incumbent 1st District Democrat William Lacy Clay in 2018, before she defeated him in 2020. She easily won reelection in 2022.

Bell, 49, began hosting conversations about community policing after Brown’s death. The lawyer, who previously served as a municipal prosecutor and judge, ran successfully for a seat on the Ferguson City Council before defeating seven-term incumbent St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch in the August 2018 Democratic primary.

As prosecutor, Bell reopened an examination into Brown’s death. He announced in July 2020 that while the investigation didn’t exonerate Wilson, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him.

“My heart breaks” for Brown’s parents, Bell said at the time. “I know this is not the result they were looking for and that their pain will continue forever.”

Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., was featured in an ad for Bush.

“He used my family for power,” Brown says of Bell in the ad. “And now he’s trying to sell out St. Louis.”

Bush’s campaign focused on what she’s accomplished for St. Louis. She said her efforts have brought $2 billion to the 1st District and that it was her protest on the steps of the Capitol in 2021 that helped extend the federal eviction moratorium as part of the COVID-19 pandemic, aiding thousands of St. Louisans.

Bell touted his own progressive credentials. He noted that as a prosecutor he has said he will not prosecute any abortion cases in a state that bans the procedure in most instances. He created diversion programs to point people with mental health and substance abuse problems toward treatment instead of jail. And his office has expanded efforts to examine potential cases of wrongful convictions.

In Missouri’s 3rd District, which stretches from the western outskirts of the St. Louis region through central Missouri, the candidate with Trump's endorsement won. Bob Onder, a physician and also a former state senator, defeated former state Sen. Kurt Schaefer.

Trump wrote on Truth Social last month that Onder was “an incredible America First Patriot.” The former president wrote that Schaefer “is WEAK ON MAGA,” adding, “That’s all you have to know!”

This story has been updated to correct that Onder won in Missouri's 3rd District, not Schaefer

Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri, contributed to this report.

Thousands join pro-Palestinian rallies around the globe as Oct. 7 anniversary nears

2024-10-06 10:34 Last Updated At：10:40

ROME (AP) — Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse violent demonstrators in Rome as tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets in major European cities and around the globe Saturday to call for a cease-fire as the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel approached.

Huge rallies were held in several European cities, with gatherings expected to continue over the weekend and peak on Monday, the date of the anniversary.

In Rome, several thousands demonstrated peacefully Saturday afternoon until a smaller group tried to push the rally toward the center of the city, in spite of a ban by local authorities who refused to authorize protests, citing security concerns.

Some protesters, dressed in black and with their faces covered threw stones, bottles and paper bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons, eventually dispersing the crowd. At least 30 law enforcement officers and three demonstrators were injured in the clashes, local media reported.

The rally in Rome had been calm earlier, with people chanting “Free Palestine, Free Lebanon,” waving Palestinian flags and holding banners calling for an immediate stop to the conflict.

In London, thousands marched through the capital to Downing Street amid a heavy police presence. The atmosphere was tense as pro-Palestinian protesters and counterdemonstrators, some holding Israeli flags, passed one another. Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a cordon. At least 17 people were arrested on suspicion of public order offenses, supporting a proscribed organization and assault, London's Metropolitan Police said.

In the northern German city of Hamburg, about 950 people staged a peaceful demonstration with many waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags or chanting “Stop the Genocide,” the DPA news agency reported, citing a count by police. Two smaller pro-Israeli counterdemonstrations took place without incident, it said.

Several thousands protesters gathered peacefully at Paris’ Republique Plaza in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people. Many were waving Palestinian flags while holding posters reading ”stop the genocide,” “free Palestine,” and “hands off Lebanon.”

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators also gathered at New York’s Times Square to call for a cease-fire, chanting “Gaza!" to a drumbeat. Some wore keffiyeh scarfs, waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags and held a large cardboard image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with red paint symbolizing blood across his face.

Rallies were also planned in several other cities in the United States as well as in other parts of the world, including Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa and India. In the Philippines, dozens of left-wing activists protested near the U.S. Embassy in Manila, where police prevented them from getting closer to the seaside compound.

Pro-Israeli demonstrations are expected to be held Sunday because Jews across the world are still observing Rosh Hashana, or the Jewish new year.

This year, emotions will be high for many given that the midpoint of the 10 days spanning Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is Oct. 7 — the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

Security forces in several countries warned of heightened levels of alert in major cities, amid concerns that the escalating conflict in the Middle East could inspire new terror attacks in Europe or that the protests could turn violent.

Pro-Palestinian protests calling for an immediate cease-fire have repeatedly taken place across Europe and around the globe in the past year and have often turned violent, with confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement officers.

Italian authorities believed that the timing of Saturday's rally in Rome risked the Oct. 7 attack being “glorified,” local media reported.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi also stressed that, ahead of the key anniversary, Europe is on high alert for potential terror attacks.

“This is not a normal situation. … We are already in a condition of maximum prevention,” he said.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Britain, said he and others will keep organizing marches until action against Israel is taken.

“We need to be out on the streets in even bigger numbers to stop this carnage and stop Britain being drawn into it,” Jamal said.

In Berlin, a march is scheduled from the Brandenburg Gate to Bebelplatz on Sunday. Local media reported that security forces have warned of potential overload because of the scale of protests. German authorities pointed to increasing antisemitic and violent incidents in recent days.

Earlier this week in France, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned the country’s regional prefects, expressing concern about possible tensions and saying that the terrorist threat was high.

About 3,000 people demonstrated within sight of the White House.

Amid a heavy police presence, the protesters gathered at Lafayette Park, the same site as 2020 protests against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd. “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” they chanted.

One speaker on stage called Oct. 7, 2023, “the day that Gazans finally broke out of their prison.”

The crowds then marched through downtown, with police closing streets ahead of them.

Protesters carried signs criticizing the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the issue. One read: “Abandon Harris ’24.”

Law student Annette Tunstall said she considered voting Democratic after Biden stepped down and Harris became the candidate. But she lost faith after pro-Palestinian voices were muzzled at the Democratic National Convention, she said.

“I really wanted to feel like I could vote for her in good conscience,” Tunstall said. “I don’t think it would have taken a lot for thousands of pro-Palestinian people to hold their nose and vote for Harris.”

On Oct. 7 last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.

Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive. Israelis have experienced attacks — missiles from Iran and Hezbollah, explosive drones from Yemen, fatal shootings and stabbings — as the region braces for further escalation.

In late September, Israel shifted some of its focus to Hezbollah, which it seeks to push back from its border in parts of south Lebanon where the group is entrenched.

Hui reported from London. AP journalists Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, John Minchillo in New York and Ashraf Khalil in Washington contributed to this story.