The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), the largest pro-Israel lobbying group in the United States, has doubled its investment ahead of the November legislative elections compared to the midterms four years ago. According to data from the Federal Election Commission, the organization donated 29.3 million dollars to political campaigns in the 2022 elections, 46 million in the 2024 presidential elections, and has already spent 67 million in the current election cycle.
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A large part of this funding is being allocated to Democratic Party candidates, increasingly divided regarding support for Israel, especially since the 2024 presidential elections, when a pro-Palestinian campaign called on citizens to abstain from voting for Kamala Harris due to her weak stance on Tel Aviv.
Centrist Stevens and socialist el Sayed face off today in Michigan in Democratic primaries heavily focused on Israel
The campaign in which Aipac has spent the most money this year is that of centrist congresswoman Haley Stevens, who faces Senate primaries in Michigan today that will be decisive for the party. Her rival, socialist Abdul el Sayed, has used a markedly anti-Israel discourse in the state with the highest number and percentage of Arab population in the country. Specifically, the group has spent more than 30 million dollars on ads and support actions for Stevens, who is the favorite in the polls, though by a narrow margin.
The electoral race in Michigan reflects an internal division within the Democratic Party in various states across the country. The increase in Aipac donations has gone hand in hand with growing animosity towards Tel Aviv due to the Israeli massacre in Gaza and its influence on Donald Trump to initiate and prolong an unpopular war in Iran. This distrust towards the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has also spread to some sectors of the Republican Party, as shown, for example, by the resignation in March of Joe Kent, the former director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center.
A poll published last week by the YouGov center shows that 49% of Americans believe Prime Minister Netanyahu should be arrested following the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for war crimes.
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The mayor of New York, socialist and Muslim Zohran Mamdani, promised during last year’s election campaign that if Netanyahu set foot in his city he would be arrested, although he recently acknowledged that he does not have the authority to do so and, in any case, the U.S. does not recognize the Hague court, so the federal government will not either. The Israeli leader, who traveled to Washington last week to attend Senator Lindsey Graham’s funeral, will be in New York in a month for the United Nations General Assembly.
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Aipac, founded in 1954, has focused for decades exclusively on its role as a lobbying group, seeking to influence bipartisan federal legislation, such as U.S. foreign aid to Israel, which is higher than that of any other Washington ally. However, in 2022 it expanded its functions by creating a political action committee with which it has spent more money to date than any other lobby not linked to a political party.
Aipac has funded 109 ads in the last three U.S. election cycles, although only six mention Israel
According to an analysis by The New York Times, during this time Aipac has funded 109 television and social media ads during the three election cycles, mostly during the primary process. However, only six made direct references to Israel, evidence that the pro-Israel cause is no longer as advantageous as before among the U.S. electorate. The ads have focused in each case on specific issues that Aipac considered could help pro-Israel candidates defeat their opponents.
Despite its large donations, which have helped elect 15 sympathetic congress members, support for Israel in Congress, which had always been firm, has crumbled, especially in the last year. Last month, half of the Democrats in the House of Representatives (103) voted to end military aid to Israel, specifically on a State Department funding bill that would give the Hebrew country 3.3 billion dollars.
The measure was introduced by Republican Thomas Massie, one of the most critical of Trump among the president’s ranks, but the firm support of all other Republicans for Israel prevented the aid package from being blocked. The amendment was rejected by 314 votes against and 104 in favor. Never before had a similar measure faced such significant rejection from the Democratic Party.
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