The Shift: Activists launching anti-AIPAC ads ahead of midterms

Gaza. The Israel Lobby. U.S. support for occupation, apartheid, and genocide.

These subjects, and related ones, will undoubtedly play a significant role in the midterm elections like never before.

Groups like AIPAC are already adapting to a reality where most voters view them as a problem.

“They are fully aware their brand is in the toilet,” former Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL) recently told The Intercept.

“AIPAC is thought of toxically across the nation,” she continued. “On doors, when you knock and go to canvasses and go to speaking engagements here, standard rank-and-file centrist Dems are like, ‘No, no more AIPAC and no more corporate PACs.’”

As reporter Akela Lacy notes in that piece, AIPAC is taking a quieter approach and strategically adapting so that it can influence the upcoming elections without getting its fingerprints everywhere.

On the other side of the issue, AIPAC detractors have no reason to conceal their intentions.

The New Arab reports that Corey Archibald and Casey Kennedy, the individuals behind the popular Track AIPAC Twitter account, the Track AIPAC website, and co-founders of the group Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption, are launching a series of street ads to expose AIPAC funding ahead of the midterms.

The Track AIPAC website calls on candidates to reject AIPAC money, for Democrats to disqualify super PAC spending in their primary elections, for the DOJ to enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which would require AIPAC to register as a foreign agent, and for Congress to approve a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling.

AIPAC enters this new era with a new spokesperson, as Marshall Wittmann just retired after 13 years on the job. The lobbying group has given the position to Deryn Sousa, who has worked at the organization for a decade.

In a 2016 Times of Israel blog post, Sousa reflected on a university trip to Israel for non-Jewish students:

I was sitting in the Jewish homeland, at the Christian site of Jesus’ burial, with the faint sound of the Muslim call to prayer in the background. My three worlds came together at this exact moment: my Christian faith, my pro-Israel work for the Jewish cause, and my passion for my Arabic studies. In that moment, all three religions coexisted.

In Israel there is never truly peace. Threats of terrorism are everywhere and tensions do exist, but Israel still makes it work. The people are making it work – living side-by-side, ensuring that another Yad Vashem will never need to be built again. Not for Jews, not for Christians, and not for Arabs.

I am truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to experience the miracle of Israel, and develop my own personal connection to it.

Dan Goldman

New York’s 10th congressional district is one race where Israel is already coming up.

Rep. Dan Goldman faces a primary challenge from Brad Lander, whose support for Mamdani helped boost him to a mayoral victory.

In his first campaign ad Lander declared he wouldn’t “do AIPAC’s bidding,” an obvious reference to Goldman’s ardent support for Israel.

Goldman is currently trying to thread the needle, by publicly supporting the country while criticizing Netanyahu.

“My stance has been and continues to be that we need to find a pathway for a two-state solution, so that both Israelis and Palestinians can live with self-determination, security, and prosperity,” he told a reporter during an event kicking off his reelection campaign.

“I have a very strong support for the State of Israel and its right to exist as a Jewish state, the only Jewish state in the world,” he added. “But I have voiced my serious opposition to the Israeli government.”

When asked directly whether Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza, Goldman said the question was an open one.

“We just don’t know enough,” he told a reporter. “From my perspective, I think there were some horrific things done in Gaza. What you call it is more of a legal matter, in my view.”

In a recent piece in the New York Times, Goldman concedes that his support for Israel could hurt him in the election, as Israel’s brand has clearly soured among Democratic voters. However, he told the paper that he has done “what I genuinely thought was best for the state of Israel, the people of Israel, Palestinian civilians and the future state of Palestine.”

AIPAC was Goldman’s top contributor during his last campaign.