AIPAC Is Contributing Millions to Primary Campaigns to Defeat Candidates Promoting Palestinian Rights

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.” **