Cori Bush warns pro-Israel lobby ‘to be afraid’ after primary loss

Representative Cori Bush has warned the pro-Israel lobby "to be afraid" after it poured millions of dollars into defeating the prominent member of the "Squad" of progressive Democrats in Tuesday's primary election in St Louis.

Bush said her loss to St Louis county prosecutor Wesley Bell after the hardline American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) targeted her for opposition to Israel's attack on Gaza had freed her to openly challenge the powerful pressure group, which has vowed to spend $100m to influence US elections this year in favour of Israel.

"They're about to see this other Cori, this other side," she told supporters. "Aipac, I'm coming to tear your kingdom down."

Bush, who will continue to serve in Congress until January, added: "All they did was radicalise me, so now they need to be afraid."

Bush did not say how she now intends to take on Aipac but critics of the lobby group, which has previously boasted of its ability to round up congressional support, have said that it should be obliged to register as an agent of a foreign government because it pushes Israel's interests over those of the US.

Aipac spent $8.5m to defeat Bush, mostly on negative advertising through its campaign financing arm, the United Democracy Project (UDP), in the second most expensive primary race in the US this year.

Aipac celebrated Bell's win, a second major victory after the UDP played a leading role in unseating New York representative Jamaal Bowman, another member of the Squad critical of Israel, with a tweet proclaiming: "Being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics."