AIPAC showed up in New Jersey’s 11th House district to take out former Rep. Tom Malinowski in the Democratic primary.
Malinowski is a former ally of the lobbying group, as he’s been a consistent supporter of Israel. However, amid the genocide, he suggested that U.S. military aid to the country be conditioned.
AIPAC sought to send a message to candidates ahead of the upcoming midterms: stay 100% committed to Israel or face the organization’s wrath.
“If these assholes get away with doing this to me, they will do it to every Democrat they want to target in the country in the midterms,” Malinowski warned a crowd of supporters last month.
AIPAC spent $2.3 million on ads attacking Malinowski, but Israel is deeply unpopular among Democratic voters, so they had to keep their motivation secret.
Instead, AIPAC’s Super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP), bankrolled a series of ads attacking Malinowski from the left. The spots pointed out that he had voted for a DHS funding bill back in 2019 that included ICE funding.
AIPAC’s preferred candidate was New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way, who has raked in nearly $100,000 from pro-Israel lobbying groups.
AIPAC’s strategy certainly didn’t help Way, who finished in third place with just 17% of the vote.
However, Malinowski wasn’t victorious either. The winner appears to be progressive organizer Analilia Mejia, who helped run Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign. She was the only candidate in the race who referred to Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide.
Although the results aren’t official at the time I’m typing this, Malinowski has conceded the defeat. Mejia is expected to prevail against the Republican nominee, Joe Hathaway, in the April special election.
It’s impossible to know the exact impact of the attack ads, but Mejia is expected to win by just a couple of points, which sure makes it seem like AIPAC’s plan backfired and helped secure the election for someone who is to the left of Malinowski on Palestine.
This entire saga highlights some of the major challenges facing AIPAC this election season. The group can’t be honest with voters about why it’s running ads, but it also can’t attack Democratic candidates from the right because the base has moved to the left. Going after centrists who have expressed mild criticisms of Israel is already risky, as a number of progressives will be running.
AIPAC has brushed off criticisms of its New Jersey strategy and insists it will continue to spend heavily against candidates who question U.S. support for Israel.
“We are going to have a focus on stopping candidates who are detractors of Israel or who want to put conditions on aid,” said UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton. “We had very serious concerns about Tom Malinowski, who clearly was open to conditioning aid to Israel. He knew that he had moved to what is not a pro-Israel position.”
An Axios report declares that the left “smells blood” after the “shocking” primary. A senior House Democrat confirmed to the website that centrist members were concerned about the outcome. However, another said the blame rested squarely with pro-Israel groups
“AIPAC-affiliated groups spent millions,” they said. “Wouldn’t have even happened without that.”
Introducing The Shift video series
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Here is the most recent episode where we discuss AIPAC’s massive miscalculation in the NJ-11 special election, and Team Israel’s controversial roster in the upcoming World Baseball Classic:
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Religious Liberty Commission
On Monday, the Trump administration’s White House Religious Liberty Commission held a public hearing on antisemitism.
This was expected to be a straightforward affair, where the conservative members would inevitably focus on the alleged dangers of Palestine activism. However, the meeting was driven off the rails by conservative activist and former Miss California Carrie Prejean Boller, who openly began to question what antisemitism has to do with Israel.
“I am a Catholic, and Catholics don’t embrace Zionism,” Boller told the panel.
“Catholics do not embrace Zionism, just so you know,” she continued. “I want to be clear on what the definition of antisemitism is. If I don’t support the political state of Israel, am I an antisemite, yes or no?”
Boller went on to inquire about the carnage in Gaza.
“Since we’ve mentioned Israel a total of 17 times, are you willing to condemn what Israel has done in Gaza?” she asked the other members. “You won’t condemn that? Just on the record.”
Boller, who was a member of Trump’s 2020 Campaign Advisory Board, also defended far-right pundit Candace Owens from antisemitism allegations.
Just two days after the meeting, Boller was kicked off the panel by its chair, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
“Carrie Prejean Boller has been removed from President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission,” he tweeted. “No member of the Commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue. This is clearly, without question, what happened Monday in our hearing on antisemitism in America. This was my decision.”
The saga is yet another indication that Israel has become a contentious issue within the MAGA base that propelled Trump to a presidential victory.
Odds & Ends
🇺🇸 The government-sanctioned persecution of Leqaa Kordia
🏛️ Palestine Action activists acquitted over Elbit action
🗣️ Liberal institutions are designed to acknowledge Palestinian oppression but not end it
🐘 Israel’s Support Is Collapsing (Even Among Republicans)
💬 Responsible Statecraft: Mysterious ‘peace’ groups are sending Americans pro-Israel texts
🇵🇸 Haaretz: Netanyahu Gives the IDF More Leeway to Attack as He Hopes Trump Fumbles on Peace in Gaza
✷ Common Dreams: ‘Where Is the Ceasefire?’: Israel’s Bombing of Gaza Kills 23, Mostly Women and Children
🇮🇱 Counterpunch: Made-for-Israel Wars: America’s Dangerous Habit of Forgetting
💰 Drop Site: AIPAC Coordinates Donors in Illinois House Primaries
🤔 Al Jazeera: Trump opposes Israel’s West Bank annexation, official says, as outcry grows
💻 Electronic Intifada: Why I quit Dell over Gaza
皿 Zeteo: Why Has This Columbia University Protester Been in ICE Detention for Nearly a Year?
🗳️ PAL (Peace, Accountability and Leadership) PAC, a new political action committee “exclusively committed to supporting champions for Palestinian rights” has announced its first set of midterm endorsements: Rep. Summer Lee (PA-12), Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-5), Rep. Delia Ramirez (IL-3), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-13).
“We are living in a new political moment. The sheer number of viable candidates committed to Palestinian freedom and human rights running in the 2026 cycle represents an unprecedented opportunity, one we cannot afford to miss. For too long, the political calculus on Palestine has been defined by silence, complicity, and a refusal to acknowledge the grave injustices faced by the Palestinian people. Today, we stand at the threshold of change,” said Margaret DeReus, Executive Director of PAL PAC, in a statement. “PAL PAC was founded with a defining priority: to end Israel’s ongoing human rights abuses against Palestinians and stop U.S. complicity in and backing of Israel’s apartheid system, illegal theft of Palestinian land, and genocide against Palestinians. The 2026 election cycle is our chance to shift the political calculus on Palestine and set a new foundation.”
MS Now/MSNBC’s Ayman Moyheldin the only MS host who will even whisper about Gaza, West Bank. On Sunday Feb 8th’s program there is a segment at the end of the program where Ayman, Antonia Hilton, guest Bobby Ghosh discuss these issues. The Israeli killing of over 300 Palestinians since the ceasefire. Recent killings of 30 some Palestinians including children.
Part missing I cannot find is where Ayman, Antonia, Catherine Rampell get into a heated discussion about the election you have written about. Ayman, Antonia’s conclusion about Aipac’s influence on that election is similar to yours. Katherine Rampell has a different take. Fascinating. I am sure you can find whole Sunday program. Keep looking for just that segment. Again discussing the Malinowski, Analilia Mejra,Tahesha Way race in New Jersey. They discuss Aipac’s influence.
Hope you can find. The segment was at very end of Sunday’s program. When they have comedian Jordan Klepper on. He ended up being part of the debate.
Here is link to Ayman’s Feb 8 report focus on recent Gaza, West Bank…with Bobby Ghosh.
https://open.spotify.com/show/6FGpCuMkgnYZeRyPTmdLIt
Camera going after Ayman, Bobby Ghosh for what they said about Israel, the I lobby etc.
https://www.camera.org/article/ms-now-sounds-like-tucker-carlson/
Consider the following lines and references involving recycled antisemitic tropes and conspiracies and ask yourself who said it: MS NOW or Carlson?
All three quotes came from MS NOW’s The Weekend: Primetime on Feb. 7 – 8, 2026.
An addition to Odds & Ends:
After October 7, the IDF declared war on Hamas everywhere, amping up its West Bank raids and expanding checkpoints and temporary closures across the territory, including in refugee camps. These operations drove mass displacements, but they also initially disrupted militant networks and prevented terror attacks—in large part thanks to increased security coordination between the IDF and the PA…..Yet parts of the Israeli government are working to undo these security gains by destabilizing the West Bank and weakening the very institution—the PA—that has helped prevent a sustained uprising….this Israeli government has presided over an explosion in the expansion of settlements in the West Bank since 2023. In 2025 alone, it issued nearly twice as many approvals for housing units as it did during 2019 and 2020….These moves do not only increase the number of Israelis living in the West Bank. They are also weakening the PA day by day and radically transforming the territory. The Israeli government has begun generating strategic corridors of control by expanding the boundaries of municipal jurisdictions, creating bypass roads, and linking infrastructure between settlements, making it far harder for Palestinian security forces and political leaders to exert authority in the short term and dismantling any long-term chance that a territorially contiguous Palestinian state could be established….
Israel Is Quietly Annexing the West Bank | Foreign Affairs
Anyone think that apartheid is still an inappropriate word to describe the situation?
Just to clear up the record for Trump’s Commission, there were reports from Jews who took credit for killing Jesus:
“Yes, we did it. I have a note from my father in the basement that says ‘We killed him. Signed, Morty.’ … And why did we kill him? Because he didn’t want to become a doctor.” Lenny Bruce
The AIPAC fan club could just take a hint from their audience and read the room. “Most American Jews aren’t ‘Zionist’ — so what are they? A new survey [reported by The Forward] found that even many Jews who don’t identify as Zionists are still attached to Israel but also accuse it of apartheid and genocide.”
It might surprise them to find Jews that are attached to Kansas still accuse White Nationalists and establishment Jews of apartheid and genocide right here at home and demand just compensation for Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans. YMMV
Palestinian liberation is in the world’s focus. Perhaps its greatest opportunity to date.