Filings from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) reveal that the pro-Israel group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent more than $350,000 trying to defeat Rep. Ilhan Omar in the Democratic primary for Minnesota’s 5th district. Additionally the group spent over $400,000 to help defeat New York 10th district candidate Yuh-Line Niou, a progressive assembly member who expressed support for the BDS movement. Both races were very close, Omar’s unexpectedly so.
“The considerable investment, which had not previously been disclosed, adds some after-the-fact intrigue to the recent House race in Minneapolis, the outcome of which was much closer than political observers had expected,” reported Jewish Insider.
In the case of Niou, AIPAC publicly acknowledged that they were involved in the New York race after Levi Strauss heir Dan Goldman declared victory. The United Democracy Project (AIPAC’s Super PAC) had funneled money to a local PAC called New York Progressive. According to FEC filings, the treasurer of New York Progressive is Jeffrey Leb, a managing partner at Capitol Consulting and former lobbyist for the pro-Israel group United Jewish Appeal. When a 10th district constituent called Leb shortly before the election and asked if the PAC was formed in support of Goldman he hung up on her.
In the case of Omar’s race, AIPAC never publicly acknowledged its effort, leaving many to speculate that Omar could have been defeated if the organization had mounted an effort. One of these people was Omar’s centrist challenger, Don Samuels. Despite receiving hundreds of thousands dollars from AIPAC, after the election Samuels lamented that pro-Israel groups had stayed away from the race.
“We were very, very frustrated by the lack of support from organizations that have ‘Antone fatigue,’ [referring to Omar’s 2020 primary challenger Antone Melton-Meaux] … maybe ‘Black male opponent fatigue’ — not understanding that there are different kind of candidates, and that my potential for beating Ilhan was very high,” he told Jewish Insider.
“I know that there were people I called and that were called on my behalf to say, ‘We need your help, we need your endorsement, we need your dollars, we need your support,’” he continued. “And they said, they said it very clear, ‘We’re not going to invest in this. Antone lost. She can’t be beaten. And so we’re looking at other races where we can have more impact and where our dollars will be more likely to make a difference.’ So we had to just eat it.”
In recent months AIPAC has been criticized for intervening in Democratic primaries while deliberately avoiding the subject of Israel in its campaign ads. The United Democracy Project, seemingly created for the specific purpose of tipping Democratic races, doesn’t even mention the country in its mission statement. “United Democracy Project is an organization comprised of American citizens, Democrats and Republicans, united in the belief that we are stronger as a nation when we come together in support of our democracy and other democracies around the world,” it reads. “United Democracy Project works to elect candidates that share our vision of Americans coming together to support our mutual interests and belief in democracy.”
When the Washington Post asked AIPAC CEO Howard Kohr why Israel wasn’t mentioned in ads last month, he danced around the issue. “Like other super PACs, it’s focused on the issues that are important to the voters in that district,” said Kohr. “The objective here is to ensure that your candidate emerges victorious and that the anti-Israel candidate is defeated. So in that sense, like other super PACs, we focused on the issues that matter in the district. UDP itself says proudly who it is. If you go to its website, it is clear. Everybody understands what the motivation is, even though the issues that it may be talking about in the race are about the issues of that district.”
AIPAC’s actual motivation isn’t very difficult to discern. While most Democratic lawmakers remain staunch supporters of the country, recent polling indicates that Israel’s reputation among Democratic voters continues to decline. Earlier this year a Critical Issues Poll from the University of Maryland, released showed that less than 1% of Democratic voters identify Israel as first or second choice among the two top US allies, behind eight other countries. A 2021 Gallup poll found that, for the first time ever, a majority of Democratic voters want political pressure applied on Israel, not Palestine.
“In earlier races, AIPAC/UDP largely hid its pro-Israel agenda, with ads that didn’t even mention Israel,” tweeted Foundation for Middle East Peace president Lara Friedman. “In NY-10 and now we know also MN-5 it hid its role altogether. As I observed previously: these tactics, together, underscore the fact that it is absurd for AIPAC (or anyone) to suggest that the results of these races reflect anything about voters’ views on Israel.”
“Very hard to avoid the conclusion that AIPAC – from the start – recognized that making Democratic primaries referendums on hard-line pro-Israel policies would not deliver the results it wants,” Friedman said.
The stealthy, deceptive tactics of AIPAC in these elections underscore the reasons for making AIPAC register as an agent of a foreign government, as President John F. Kennedy tried to do with the American Zionist Council, the AIPAC of his day.
As Rep. Omar candidly stated publicly (and then regrettably and needlessly apologized for): “It’s all about the Benjamins.” The United States is not really a democracy, it is a moneyocracy. As long as money is considered the equivalent of speech, it will stay that way.
I am sure that research would reveal that campaign contributions from individual Zionist millionaires and billionaires far exceeded the contributions from any political action committee.