The United Democracy Project (UDP), the new super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has begun spending in Democratic primaries. The group has unveiled four television ads set to run in Ohio’s 11th district, Pennsylvania’s 12th and North Carolina’s 1st and 4th. The ads cost more than $1 million cumulatively.
The moves comes amid a wave of Democratic backlash aimed at AIPAC. In March the AIPAC PAC endorsed 37 Republicans who refused to certify the 2020 election victory of Joe Biden over Donald Trump. AIPAC President Betsy Korn and CEO Howard Kohr defended the endorsements in a letter to supporters. “We have friends who are pro-choice and pro-life, those who are liberal on immigration and those who want to tighten our borders — and yes, those who disagree strongly on issues surrounding the 2020 presidential election,” it reads. “These disagreements are not minor. They are, in many respects, critical to the future of America. But they do not determine the fate of America’s enduring commitment to the State of Israel.”
Despite its commitment to Israel, the new UDP ads do not mention the country once. Their spot for Rep. Shontel Brown in Ohio mainly focuses on progressive challenger Nina Turner, who squared off against Brown in a special election last year. Turner, who was national co-chair of Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, was targeted by a number of pro-Israel lobbying groups, including the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), whose PAC spent a reported $1.9 million on the 2021 race. DMFI has asserted themselves in the district once again, recently releasing a new television ad in support of Brown.
The anti-Turner UDP ad embraces the same narrative that groups like DMFI pushed last time around. It claims that Turner “stokes division” and is more concerned with fighting Democrats than Republicans. It also takes her to task for criticizing Biden’s platform.
UDP’s ad in Pennsylvania attacks Summer Lee, a community organizer and State House member, running for the Democratic nomination in the state’s 12th district. It mentions no other candidates. Like the Turner ad, it paints Lee as a source of party infighting.
Although Israel isn’t mentioned, it’s clear why AIPAC would oppose Lee. During Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza in May 2021 Lee tweeted, “When I hear American pols use the refrain ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’ in response to undeniable atrocities on a marginalized population, I can’t help but think of how the west has always justified indiscriminate and disproportionate force and power on weakened and marginalized people. The US has never shown leadership in safeguarding human rights of folks its othered But as we fight against injustice here in the movement for black lives we must stand against injustice everywhere. Inhumanities against the Palestinian people cannot be tolerated or justified.”
Steve Irwin, a Pittsburgh lawyer also running for the nomination, has criticized Lee over the tweet. “Israel is not perfect, but Israel is a democracy,” he recently told an interviewer. “The views that some of these people share mirror concerns that people in Israel may have. But Israel has a right to self-determination. I think it’s going to take my reaching out to develop a relationship to understand the way they feel and why they feel that way, to provide facts, to speak out, when necessary. Antisemitism is not acceptable, and threats to Israel’s existence and security and America’s support of Israel is just not acceptable.”
In North Carolina’s 1st district, UDP is running an ad that touts the legislative achievements of State Senator Don Davis.
Davis is running against former state senator Erica Smith, who is endorsed by the liberal Zionist group J Street. Smith has presumably drawn the ire of AIPAC for voting against an anti-BDS bill in the state. AIPAC has also accused Smith of deleting tweets about last year’s attack on Gaza.
UDP’s 4th district North Carolina ad celebrates the political life of state Assembly member Valerie Foushee. Foushee is running against Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a Muslim progressive activist who has repeatedly spoken in support of Palestinian rights. “Each year we finance Israel’s military with over $3 billion in recurring military aid — compared to only $235 million in humanitarian and economic development aid for Palestine,” she said last year. We must end this negligent spending that is being used to oppress the Palestinian people.”
Earlier this month the Progressive Caucus of North Carolina’s Democratic Party rescinded its endorsement of Foushee because she took political donations from AIPAC, but the move came over AIPAC’s support for January 6th Republicans and had nothing to do with AIPAC’s support for Israel apartheid. In fact, the caucus put out a statement making it clear that they align with AIPAC on foreign policy. “The damage done by the January 6 insurrectionists cannot be ‘overcome’ by AIPAC’s support of Israel,” it reads.
When asked why the UDP doesn’t mention Israel, AIPAC spokesman Marshall Wittmann would not answer the question directly in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in March. “As we indicated at the time of the announcement of the PAC and Super-PAC, the creation of the PACs is an opportunity to significantly deepen and strengthen the involvement of the pro-Israel community in politics,” he said.
This month Shibley Telhami, who directs the Critical Issues Poll at the University of Maryland, released polling that shows the gap between Democratic politicians and their constituents is growing larger. Less than 1% of Democratic voters identify Israel as first or second choice among the two top US allies. A 2019 poll from Telhami found that most Democratic voters have a positive view of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Among Democrats who had heard of the campaign, 77% agreed with the idea that BDS is “a legitimate, peaceful way of opposing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.”
More evidence that most members of Congress are not motivated by morality, or even their constituents’ priorities, but by money, i.e. corruption. Seems that we have a Congress of criminals.