PRO-ISRAEL ILLINOIS DEMOCRAT CANCELS TWO DEBATES AGAINST CHALLENGER WHO BACKS GAZA CEASEFIRE – By Akela Lacy (The Intercept) / Jan 27, 2024
Rep. Bill Foster and Qasim Rashid are on opposite sides of the Gaza ceasefire push — with AIPAC expected to get into the action.
REP. BILL FOSTER, an Illinois Democrat, agreed to three debates in his primary election race against Qasim Rashid, an insurgent progressive. Foster then dropped out of two of the debates, citing conflicting events. The first and only time he appeared alongside Rashid, the decadelong incumbent left halfway through the candidate forum, claiming he had another obligation.
Rashid said Foster is reluctant to defend his own record. Among other issues, the incumbent had criticized Israel’s war against Palestinians in Gaza but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire. Protesters were at the forum to express their displeasure with Foster and Rep. Sean Casten, a Democrat from a neighboring district, who also attended, for refusing to call for a ceasefire.
“Voters are upset,” Rashid told The Intercept, said of Foster’s refusal to debate. “Fundamentally, they realize that he wants them to vote for a record that even he isn’t willing to defend.”
The March 19 Democratic primary in the suburbs and rural towns northwest of Chicago could become another congressional race where Israel plays an outsized role. Rashid is running on a broader progressive platform — hitting Foster for being out of touch with Democrats in the district and his acceptance of money from corporate PACs, fossil fuel companies, and the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries — but the ceasefire debate looms large.
CONTINUE > https://theintercept.com/2024/01/27/illinois-bill-foster-qasim-rashid-israel-gaza/
