News Desk, The Cradle.
Support for Israel now viewed as ‘toxic’.
Only 13 percent of Democratic voters in the US view Israel favorably, making support from the lobbying group AIPAC a liability.
The pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC has begun hiding its involvement in funding political campaigns for candidates running for public office in the US, as support for Israel becomes increasingly toxic among Democratic voters, Haaretz reported on 31 May.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has traditionally boasted of its success in helping elect candidates for Congress and the Senate who are committed to supporting Israel, including voting to provide it billions in US military aid each year.
However, as Israel continues to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and wage war on Lebanon and Iran, US voters are beginning to view Israel and its lobby in the US in an increasingly negative light.
Support among Democrats has fallen to particularly low levels, making AIPAC campaign contributions to Democratic candidates a potential liability.
“But as the Israel-boosting organization’s brand becomes toxic in many Democratic primaries, [AIPAC] has adopted a new fundraising method that hides its involvement in steering funds to favored contenders,” Haaretz writes.
To obscure its involvement, AIPAC is asking donors to make donations through online portals it controls that “funnel money directly to candidates’ campaigns — erasing AIPAC’s fingerprints in public data.”
The pro-Israel lobbying group used the tactic in Michigan, where Congresswoman Haley Stevens is running against Abdul el-Sayed for an open Senate seat.
During the campaign, Sayed has criticized Stevens for accepting financial support from AIPAC, saying the funds have “bought” her support for providing US military aid to Israel.
According to the Detroit News, a local Michigan newspaper, AIPAC raised several million dollars for Stevens by placing a fundraising page on its website, allowing donors to steer funds directly to her campaign.
In similar moves last summer and fall, AIPAC sent emails to donors directing them to use candidate-specific links to pages on the Pro-Israel Network website, rather than donate to the lobbying group.
The online portals also allow AIPAC to collect information about donors, including how much they contributed, to provide the data to the candidates. This allows AIPAC to work on the candidates’ behalf “while shielding it from public view.”
Doing so protects candidates from criticism for accepting AIPAC funds, as only 13 percent of Democratic voters hold a positive view of Israel.
In March, Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona announced, “I wouldn’t take AIPAC money because you have to basically be endorsing what’s happening right now, and it’s not good.”
AIPAC has also begun creating political action committees (PACs) with names unrelated to the organization or Israel that obscure their origin.
The United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s main political spending arm, now focuses its advertising on domestic issues important to voters, such as immigration, while avoiding any mention of Israel, Haaretz added.
For a congressional election in the city of Chicago, AIPAC created a political action committee called “Elect Chicago Women” to try to defeat Daniel Biss, the Jewish candidate who advocates placing conditions on US aid to Israel.
The issue of Israeli lobby funding also arose on the Republican side of the political aisle when AIPAC spent $16 million to help defeat long-time Congressman and prominent critic of Israel, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, in a Republican primary earlier this month.
Ed Gallrein defeated Massie in the most expensive Congressional primary in US history, thanks to AIPAC’s spending.
“It’s turned into a referendum on whether Israel gets to buy seats in Congress,” said Massie.
Last year, Massie tried to pass legislation known as the “Dual Loyalty Disclosure Act,” which would have required candidates for federal office to disclose both their dual citizenship and the foreign country in which it is held.
In 2024, he revealed to journalist Tucker Carlson that each member of Congress and the Senate is assigned an AIPAC “minder” who is responsible for steering lawmakers to vote for pro-Israel legislation.
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