A national group arguing Rep. Jamaal Bowman is too radical to represent mainstream Black voters has joined the crush of critics spending big to keep the progressive from a third term, POLITICO has learned.

The National Black Empowerment Action Fund, founded by AIPAC veteran Darius Jones, plans to sink an initial half million dollars into a NY-16 offensive that includes directly interacting with Black voters and mobilizing local officials. More spending is anticipated as they raise more money.

“We could have stayed out of it, but the need was too great, the sense of urgency was too high,” Jones said in an interview.

Jones formerly served as the national African American constituency director for AIPAC, or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The National Black Empowerment Action Fund’s other senior adviser, Richard St. Paul, is also an AIPAC alum.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman has formally applied for a last-minute endorsement from the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America as he attempts to fend off a formidable primary challenge from Westchester County Executive George Latimer. NYC-DSA plans to hold a virtual forum with Bowman on Sunday

Jewish school struck by gunfire in Montreal, police investigating

Montreal police (SPVM) are investigating after another school in Montreal’s Jewish community was hit by gunfire overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

A call to 911 was made late Wednesday afternoon about a possible shooting outside Belz school, located at the Young Israel of Montreal Synagogue, on Hillsdale Road, near Van Horne Avenue, in Côte-des-Neiges–NDG.

In a recording of the three-minute City Hall speech heard by The Post, Chehade reads out testimony from families in Gaza and says the Oct. 7 attack on Israel was the “natural response of 75 years of occupation and violence by Israeli forces.”

While opposing a Chicago City Council resolution that condemned the Hamas attack without mentioning Israel’s bombing in Gaza, Chehade said that “Israel is one of the largest nuclear and military powers in the world, while Gaza is an open-air prison.”

In an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge of discrimination that Chehade filed before the lawsuit, she claimed that her social media posts “pointed out that the October 7 attack needs to be contextualized in light of 75 years of ethnic cleansing and apartheid” but that she never supported targeting of civilians by either side.