The Shift: Josh Shapiro says pro-Israel advocates are having their ‘voices silenced’ by AIPAC critics

This week, Pennsylvania Governor and presidential hopeful Josh Shapiro sat down with POLITICO’s Jonathan Martin for a lengthy interview.

During the chat, Shapiro was questioned about AIPAC’s role in U.S. elections, which has emerged as a major story amid this year’s primaries.

Shapiro told Martin that, despite disagreeing with the lobbying group on a number of issues, he worried that pro-Israel advocates were having their “voices silenced” as a result of all the AIPAC criticism.

“I think it’s been used cynically by some to try and silence certain voices, to try and say that certain people participating in politics shouldn’t count or should be viewed in a toxic way,” said Shapiro.

“Now, do I agree with every political decision they’ve made? Every endorsement they’ve made? Of course not,” he continued. “I think what we have seen is a weaponization of that, and I think that is a danger for our system. When you have people who are advocating for issues that they feel strongly about, and they are having their voices silenced, I think that’s a problem in our system.”

Shapiro went on to suggest that some of the focus on AIPAC could be antisemitic.

“I think it does get blurred, because now what you are seeing is not ‘AIPAC money,’ or however it was termed, but you’re getting the Jews who give to that candidate who also support AIPAC,” he told Martin. “I think it’s very dangerous in our system if you are trying to silence certain voices based on their race, based on their faith, based on their particular ideology.”

This talking point has been making the rounds lately. “I’m very offended as a Jewish American to see AIPAC attacked,” declared Joel Rubin, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Obama, on a recent CNN panel.

Start-up Nation author Dan Senor shared a clip from the Shapiro interview on Twitter and wrote, “In too many competitive Democratic primaries, there’s now a double standard applied to American Jews active in politics. Which other candidates today would call out the double standard the way Governor Shapiro does here?”

I’m guessing very few of them because Israel has grown unpopular among the U.S. population, and most people realize that AIPAC is a political lobbying organization whose expressed purpose is to advocate on behalf of Israel.

While Shapiro is complaining about AIPAC critics, the group is spending heavily on U.S. elections in secret.

This week, the Detroit News reported that the organization has exploited a loophole to pour money into Rep. Haley Stevens’ Senate campaign. The paper’s analysis of federal records found that 1,172 of Stevens’ 3,728 itemized donors had also given to AIPAC since early 2025 and that her campaign paid almost $135,000 in fees to Democracy Engine, AIPAC’s fundraising platform.

Earlier this month, it was reported that a “mysterious” pro-Israel group, the Center for Democratic Priorities Inc., dumped $5.3 million into the race on behalf of Stevens. The group purchased its ads through Waterfront Strategies, a firm that’s worked directly with AIPAC and associated groups.

Is pointing this kind of stuff out antisemitic? How will a presidential candidate making that argument resonate with the American public?

Al Green out

Rep. Al Green has been ousted by Rep. Christian Menefee in the Democratic runoff for Texas’s 18th district. Green’s loss can be credited to the GOP’s redistricting plan, which redrew Green’s former 9th district to increase the number of Republican voters and pitted two incumbents against one another.

“The whole affair foreshadows fights to come across the South, as Republicans—armed with the recent Supreme Court decision torching the Voting Rights Act—gerrymander Black districts like Green’s out of existence,” notes the Texas Observer.

Green was a prominent critic of the Trump administration. He was ejected during Trump’s joint address to Congress last year, after disrupting the speech, and was kicked out of this year’s State of the Union for holding a sign that said, “Black People Aren’t Apes,” a reference to Trump’s infamous social media post that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.

In recent years, Green has strengthened his position on Palestine and criticized Israel more consistently. Last year, he was one of the only House members to back a bill calling for a full arms embargo on the country. He also tried to impeach Trump over the June 2025 bombing of Iran.

Green’s defeat was celebrated by pro-Israel groups like AIPAC.

“Congratulations Rep. Christian Menefee on your victory tonight over one of the most outspoken anti-Israel voices in Congress,” tweeted the group.

In a statement in response to the tweet, Green condemned the group for backing the genocide in Gaza.

“Question for AIPAC: Why are so many candidates rejecting your once open and notorious contributions? Answer: You have become persona non grata,” it reads. “Shame on you for what you have condoned. Crawl back into your hole.”

Odds & Ends

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