Haaretz: After Massie’s defeat, chants of ‘fuck Israel’ and ‘fuck AIPAC’ could be heard emanating from the crowd at his election party.

After Massie’s defeat, chants of ‘fuck Israel’ and ‘fuck AIPAC’ could be heard emanating from the crowd at his election party. Pro-Israel spending may have achieved its primary goal, but AIPAC may very well be sacrificing its long term standing for short term victories

WASHINGTON – Kentucky’s 4th congressional district hardly reflects a cross-section of American voters, Jewish or otherwise.

A heavily red district, where more than 105,000 of the nearly 147,000 voters are Republican, and the median household income is estimated to be less than $82,000, the small and seemingly insignificant stretch in the north of the state would seem an unlikely site for the most expensive primary in American political history.

Tuesday’s defeat of Rep. Thomas Massie – Congress’ soon-to-be former harshest Republican critic of Israel and stated foe of the American-Jewish establishment – marked the most significant blow to date to the America First movement so critical of Israel, following a $32 million race.

Conservative pro-Israel groups, like the Republican Jewish Coalition and AIPAC, which advocate for unquestioned ties between Israel and the U.S., proudly spent millions. Donors like Miriam Adelson and Paul Singer also joined the efforts to defeat Massie, albeit more discreetly.

The Massie takedown surpassed the other two most expensive primary races in history: the takedowns of Democratic incumbents Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, two prominent progressive critics of Israel. Like the Kentucky 4th, these races were flooded with money from pro-Israel Super PACs, and took place within the past three years, following the emergence of AIPAC’s United Democracy Project Super PAC.

Bowman and Bush, like Massie, were also particularly vulnerable in their races due to their own liabilities and controversy-ridden personalities. Massie, for his part, also had to contend with U.S. President Trump’s base after Trump zeroed in on quashing dissenters, sending a message to other GOP rebels.

Massie’s supporters – from longtime allies on his right flank and more recent fellow travelers on the progressive left – framed the race as a referendum on the pro-Israel community’s political power. This sits uneasily alongside the broader political reality in which GOP voters nationwide have repeatedly rejected anyone willing to cross Trump, while overlooking that many voters undoubtedly believed Gallrein better represented their values than Massie.

Pro-Israel sycophants, in turn, feigned selective outrage at efforts to highlight their spending as blindly playing into tropes about Jewish money and power – never mind the fact that it was objectively the most expensive race in history, fuelled by groups and donors either exclusively or primarily informed by concerns about Israel and antisemitism.

But pro-Israel lobby groups are an undeniable part of Massie’s electoral downfall. Acknowledging this does not play into antisemitic tropes, nor is it a bad-faith observation. It is an accurate reflection of attempts by this community to alter facts on the ground within the confines of America’s electoral system.

At the same time, this doesn’t negate that Massie has long invoked antisemitic dogwhistles while attempting to deflect such accusations as baseless distractions meant to delegitimize his critiques of Israel.

His concession speech, for example, was rife with the conspiratorial tone that has defined not only his campaign but much of his career in Washington. He opened by saying: “I would have come out sooner but … it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv,” and punctuated his speech with not-so-subtly coded martyrdom of attempts to make him “bend the knee,” and efforts to “buy his seat” after “they” couldn’t “buy his vote.”

While the battle may have been won in Kentucky, the war is far from over. Massie’s base (both stalwart Republicans and disenchanted progressive Democrats who respect his criticisms of “the Epstein Class”) has indicated Massie’s supposed martyrdom is not the end of his political story or his burgeoning movement. This includes calls for a 2028 presidential run, or even a public platform a la Tucker Carlson, which would make him more prominent than as an elected official.

At Massie’s election party following his defeat, chants of “fuck Israel” and “fuck AIPAC” could be heard emanating from the crowd. Pro-Israel spending may have achieved its primary goal on Tuesday, but AIPAC may very well be sacrificing its long term standing for short term victories. Unpalatable strategy, however, should not open doors for antisemitism disguised as dissent.