AIPAC Is Contributing Millions to Primary Campaigns
to Defeat Candidates Promoting Palestinian Rights
Allan C. Brownfeld, Editor
Special Interest Report
August 2022
For the first time in the 2022 election cycle, the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has formed a political action committee (PAC), which
has already funneled millions of dollars into primary campaigns to defeat
candidates who have supported Palestinian rights. The PAC, the United Democracy
Project, can raise money without any legal limit on donation size. It has
delivered millions of dollars to 326 candidates and endorsed 120 candidates,
including Republicans who voted against certifying Joseph Biden as president.
AIPAC and it’s Super PAC spent more than $6 million to successfully defeat
former Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) in her effort to regain her
congressional seat. The Washington Post (June 18, 2022) reports: “A new super
PAC affiliated with AIPAC is spending money to attack former Democratic
congresswoman Donna F, Edwards as she asks voters to send her back to Congress
in Maryland’s 4th District. Edwards pushed back forcefully, including with a
virtual appearance from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi/D-Calif.) −against a $600,000
ad buy from the United Democracy Project. The super PAC has been inserting
itself into races across the country, spending millions against candidates
opposed by AIPAC.”
The ad against Edwards does not mention her support for Palestinian rights but,
instead, criticizes her constituent services. Edwards was supported by J street,
a Jewish group which supports human rights for both Israelis and Palestinians.
It commended Edwards for her support for “peace, diplomacy and human rights for
both Israelis and Palestinians.” The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (July 20, 2022)
reports that, “AIPAC and its super PAC…spent nearly $6 million in its efforts to
keep Edwards out of Congress–a record in political spending for the group…
AIPAC’s PAC has spent a total of $26 million this campaign cycle.”
AIPAC is also doing its best to defeat Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) in his August
primary against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), two incumbents placed in the same
district by redistricting. According to Jewish Insider (May 25, 2022), “Stevens
has been endorsed and taken more than $3,000,000 in donations bundled by AIPAC,
which is supporting more than 100 representatives who voted against certifying
the 2020 election results…Rep. Levin said, ‘I am not funded by special interest
groups that are supporting insurrectionist representatives.’… AIPAC attacked
Levin for sponsoring legislation that would require the U.S. to refer to East
Jerusalem and the West Bank and Gaza more broadly as occupied Palestinian
territory in official documents.”
Rep. Levin served as president of a synagogue before running for office. Hadar
Susskind, president of Americans for Peace Now, noted that. “Andy Levin believes
in a two-state solution while AIPAC loves endless occupation.” Levin has
proposed legislation, the “Two State Solution Act,” that would prevent U.S.
security assistance to Israel from being used to further “occupation or
annexation” in the West Bank and Gaza and would require goods created in those
regions not saying, “made in Israel.”
In New York City, former mayor Bill De Blasio, before he withdrew from a
congressional race, said he would not accept support from AIPAC because, “They
have changed in a way that is unacceptable to me because they have attacked
people, I believe in. I would not accept their endorsement even if it was
offered...”. He pointed to the primary defeat in Cleveland of progressive
congressional candidate Nina Turner, blaming AIPAC for her loss because she had
defended the rights of Palestinians and accused Israel of “apartheid.”
What Turner had done to anger AIPAC, said De Blasio, was to quote the Jewish
group IfNotNow as saying, “We are a movement of American Jews organizing our
community to end support for Israel’s apartheid system and demand equality,
justice, and a thriving future for all Palestinians and Israelis.” **
|