Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
As co-head of Senator Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign, Cleveland activist Nina Turner was expected to win both Democratic Party primary races for a seat in the US House of Representatives in 2021 and 2022.
At one point in the 2021 race, Ms Turner, a long-time critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, held a 30-point lead over her opponents.
Then pro-Israel interest groups entered the scene.
She ended up losing both primary elections to a candidate who received more than $1 million in funding from a lobbying organisations affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, and other groups.
Reports show that Democratic Majority for Israel, a pro-Israel super Pac, spent more than $1.5 million on attack advertisements and other efforts during Ms Turner’s campaigns.
Super Pacs are independent “expenditure-only political action committees” that can raise unlimited amounts of money to support – or attack – politicians and candidates.
“They don’t care about what happens to a child in Cleveland or in Chicago. They only care about Israel,” Ms Turner said of the groups.
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“So, you have a lobbying force that advocates in the open for Israel, not for Americans. Now [in Gaza], we are seeing, in a very visceral, bloody way what that means.”
With the US going to the polls in hundreds of key election races between now and November, the role of pro-Israel lobbyists is coming into sharp focus.
Politicians who have expressed pro-Palestine sentiments, such as Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and other, lesser-known figures, are expected to face opponents backed by wealthy pro-Israel groups.
Last week, in a bid to counter this, more than 20 progressive groups formed the “Reject Aipac” coalition.
“Everything about Aipac and the Israel lobby’s intervention in American politics we oppose because it aligns itself with the right-wing Israeli government that has shown itself to have no meaningful commitment to the lives of Palestinians,” says Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, one of the groups in Reject Aipac.
By its own admission, Aipac supported 365 pro-Israel political candidates with more than $17 million during elections in 2022, claiming that 98 per cent of those candidates won their races.
“It’s such an overwhelming amount of money that they dropped in the 2022 [elections] and there’s even more [expected this year],” said Mr Minsky.
“It’s a massive reality in American politics and one that, of course, skews the whole democratic process tremendously.”
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In at least 14 races, Aipac has spent millions of dollars to back centrist Democratic Party candidates running against their progressive colleagues who are critical of Israel or supportive of Palestinian rights.
“Their rhetoric to the public was to claim that I was not going to be sufficiently loyal to the Democratic Party, that I was an angry black woman,” said Ms Turner of her experience with pro-Israel Pacs and super Pacs.
Pro-Israel lobby groups have a long and influential history with the Democratic Party.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America, an organisation that pushes Israel’s interests, has spent nearly $2 million on political candidates.
Its chief executive, Halie Soifer, was national security adviser to current US Vice President Kamala Harris when she was a senator in California.
Aipac has also endorsed politicians in the Republican Party who voted to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.
In Maryland, Aipac and Democratic Majority for Israel spent more than $6 million – an unprecedented amount – on an attack advertisement campaign against Donna Edwards, a progressive Democrat, in 2022.
Nida Allam, who became the first Muslim woman elected to public office in North Carolina in 2020, was defeated by Valerie Foushee in a Democratic Party primary election for the House of Representatives in 2022.
That was after pro-Israel groups such as United Democracy Project – an initiative of Aipac – and Protect Our Future spent more than $3.5 million to support Ms Foushee.
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Actor Hill Harper, best known for starring in TV shows such as The Good Doctor and CSI: NY, turned to politics last year, running for a US Senate seat in Michigan.
He drew the attention of deep-pocket political donors including Michigan businessman Linden Nelson, who reportedly offered Mr Harper $20 million to run against Ms Tlaib, the Palestinian-American politician and critic of Israel’s war in Gaza.
“I will not be bought, or bossed, or bullied,” he said in a statement in November. “I’m not going to run against the only Palestinian-American in Congress just because some special interests don’t like her.”
Aipac says it played no part in the incident, although Mr Nelson has donated to pro-Israel groups in the past.
A representative for the group did not respond to numerous requests for comment from The National.
Ms Turner said the language often used in describing Israel’s war in Gaza is inaccurate, and that the consequences for America’s support of Israel in the long term could be grave.
“We’re calling this a war but it’s really a one-sided siege," she said.
"It is a travesty of epic proportions, and it pains me greatly that the leaders of the United States could stop this carnage and choose not to. None of us is going to get out of this unscathed.
"What the United States is doing by giving our money to bomb other people’s children … we are going to reap what we sow collectively.
“It’s going to come to our door in some kind of way. This country is adding fuel to the fire.”
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Company%20profile
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Day 3, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Just three balls remained in an exhausting day for Sri Lanka’s bowlers when they were afforded some belated cheer. Nuwan Pradeep, unrewarded in 15 overs to that point, let slip a seemingly innocuous delivery down the legside. Babar Azam feathered it behind, and Niroshan Dickwella dived to make a fine catch.
Stat of the day - 2.56 Shan Masood and Sami Aslam are the 16th opening partnership Pakistan have had in Tests in the past five years. That turnover at the top of the order – a new pair every 2.56 Test matches on average – is by far the fastest rate among the leading Test sides. Masood and Aslam put on 114 in their first alliance in Abu Dhabi.
The verdict Even by the normal standards of Test cricket in the UAE, this has been slow going. Pakistan’s run-rate of 2.38 per over is the lowest they have managed in a Test match in this country. With just 14 wickets having fallen in three days so far, it is difficult to see 26 dropping to bring about a result over the next two.
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
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About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
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Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
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