Anti-Israel "Squad" member Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) said Jews in his district intentionally live in "segregated" communities, a state of affairs that must change because "we need to live together," according to a Politico report on Friday.
"In New York City we all live together," Bowman said in April, Politico reported. "[But] Westchester is segregated. There’s certain places where the Jews live and concentrate. Scarsdale, parts of White Plains, parts of New Rochelle, Riverdale. I’m sure they made a decision to do that for their own reasons ... but this is why, in terms of fighting antisemitism, I always push—we’ve been separated and segregated and miseducated for so long. We need to live together, play together, go to school together, learn together, work together."
Bowman's New York district includes parts of the southern half of Westchester County, which is home to a collection of Orthodox or traditional Jewish communities.
Bowman is facing a primary challenge from Democratic county executive George Latimer, who has criticized Bowman’s anti-Israel record in congress.
The New York congressman has repeatedly claimed the Jewish state is an "apartheid state" and called reports of rapes and child murders during Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks "propaganda and "lies." Bowman also accused the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, which has run an array of ads supporting Latimer, of wanting "to call [him] the N-word."
Bowman apologized this week for dismissing reports of Hamas's rapes. He initially refused to address his remarks before distancing himself from the propaganda accusations but refusing to apologize.