AIPAC Announces Support for Over 35 Republicans Who Voted To Overturn The 2020 Election

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) new political action committee (PAC) has announced its first slate of midterm endorsements. It includes over 35 Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election after the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. The list includes Rep. Jim Jordan, who has been called to testify over his involvement in organizing the Jan. 6 insurrection. He supported Donald Trump’s suggestion that Democratic campaign staff members be executed for treason, saying it was “right on target.”

Eleanor Clift, writing in Daily Beast (March 11, 2022) points out that, “Notably, Rep. Liz Cheney (who rejected Trump’s ‘Big lie’) did not receive AIPAC’s endorsement. Wading into this racist, anti-democratic, conspiratorial stew, AIPAC has alienated traditional allies… Abraham Foxman, former national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, called it a ‘sad mistake’ to endorse candidates who undermine democracy.’ Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations called AIPAC ‘morally bankrupt’ to endorse candidates willing to undermine democracy as long as they are pro-Israel.”

J Street, the liberal Zionist group, issued a statement (March 3, 2022) declaring that, “Whatever their views on Israel, there can be no excuse for raising millions of dollars for candidates who threaten our democratic future…In recent years, AIPAC has run attack ads painting Democrats as terrorist sympathizers and fought against President Obama’s Iran deal…It continues to lobby against any meaningful U.S. action to deter settler violence, settlement expansion or discriminatory evictions. Now they’re committed to financially supporting dozens of Republicans who voted to throw out our election results.”

J Street Vice President Logan Bayroff declared: “We must make clear that AIPAC’s support for these candidates endangers American democracy and undermines the democratic freedom of Israelis and Palestinians as well—just as it undermines the pro-Israel, pro-peace vision that the majority of Jewish Americans hold.” **