Democratic Rep. Cori Bush (Mo.) steered nearly $1 million in taxpayer money to a youth nonprofit led by Farrakhan Shegog, an anti-Semitic activist who said that those living in Israel are not "real Jews" and that the nation is ruled by "the ones who crucified Jesus."
Bush boasted on July 7 about her role in funding a new headquarters for Young Voices With Action, a St. Louis group that encourages young people to become involved in leadership in the city. She included a photo of herself at the groundbreaking alongside Shegog, the group’s founder and president, and posted a follow-up featuring another picture of the two with their arms around each other.
Shegog has been a harsh critic of Israel and Jewish people for years, making him just the latest example of Bush associates who have pushed anti-Semitic rhetoric. He’s praised Iran for attacking Israel and has accused the Jewish state of "genocide" and conspiring with the terror group ISIS. He also called to freeze aid to Israel nearly a decade before the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.
"The people of modern day Israel are not the real Jews. The ones ruling the country now are the ones who crucified Jesus," Shegog posted in 2017. He also posted a statement in Spanish translating to "F—k Israel" in 2015.
And on the same day as the Hamas attack, he wrote, "We must resist!" and "no one will ever have peace" unless a Palestinian state is created.
Bush is facing a difficult primary battle against her pro-Israel opponent, St. Louis prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell. A coalition of rabbis and Jewish leaders threw their support behind Bell over Bush’s "fanning the flames of anti-Semitism" since Oct. 7.
"Representative Bush has shown little outrage against the horrendous attacks by an organization whose very charter calls for the killing of all Jewish people," the coalition wrote in a November letter.
The new Young Voices With Action headquarters is part of a mixed-use development project—one of several St. Louis community initiatives that received money through the 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act, according to Bush’s congressional website. Mayor Tishaura Jones, who also attended the groundbreaking, noted that American Rescue Plan funds helped provide $1.5 million for the nonprofit’s new headquarters.
Bush’s request for the funding indicated that the project would also include a training center and eight affordable housing units, though she didn’t mention those in her celebratory post.
In April, Bush also conflated Iran’s unprecedented air attack against Israel with the Jewish state’s response to Hamas. Shegog, meanwhile, outright showed support for the Islamic Republic.
"Sending love to the good people of Iran and its government," he wrote on May 20.
Shegog has expressed support for Bush and has encouraged others to donate alongside him to her campaign.
"I encourage all my friends and family to send a donation to @CoriBush. Special interests are rising and we need an advocate on the people’s side. DONATE NOW!" Shegog wrote in October, for example.
Bush has anti-Israel influences in her close circle, including her long-time friend and special adviser David Ragland who works to abolish police, prisons, and the Supreme Court. In 2019, Ragland called for the ousting of any politicians who support "Israel's war criminal activities" because they are "beyond complicit" and "co-conspirators."
The congresswoman, whose office declined to comment, also spent years cultivating a relationship with anti-Israel activist Neveen Ayesh, who said she wanted to "set Israel on fire" and "watch it burn to ashes along with every Israeli in it."
Bush and her fellow far-left "Squad" members cozied up to anti-Semitic Democratic fundraiser Maher Abdel-qaded at an April Arab American Heritage and Culture Month ceremony where they posed for a photo. Abdel-qader once shared a video that described Jews as "Satanic" and founded a Facebook group called "Palestinian American Congress," whose members cheered Hamas terrorists.
Shegog and Young Voices With Action did not respond to Washington Free Beacon requests for comment.