AIPAC generally portrays itself as an omnipotent force able to stomp out any political campaign that dares to stray from the party line, but a new ad shows they are suddenly on the defensive.

Hundreds demonstrated against an real estate event in Teaneck, NJ promoting properties in Israel and the illegally-occupied West Bank.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer is pressuring Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania to censor pro-Palestine sentiment on their campuses.

The Jenin onslaught further damaged Israel’s reputation in the U.S., and J Street knows it. No wonder the liberal Zionist group had almost nothing to say even as AIPAC and the ADL and Josh Gottheimer, too, were defending Israel.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has blocked an educational event about the Nakba featuring Rashida Tlaib at the Capitol, saying he will honor Israel instead.

Two congressional delegations carrying important political implications visited Israel recently. Both were a reminder of how badly out of step Congress is with the American public on Palestine.

More news out of the Berkeley School of Law, where 14 student organizations pledged that they would not invite Zionist speakers to events.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey says attacks by progressives like IfNotNow on politicians for supporting Israel are causing those colleagues to “lay low” rather than speak up for Israel’s actions. “The issue I worry about more than anything is that some of my colleagues when I call them now to join on something, they’ll say, Listen Josh, You know I’m with you, you know I’m going to vote with you. I always stand by Israel. But you know I just don’t feel like getting beaten up. I get beaten up so much when I come out in support. So I’m just going to lay low, if you don’t mind. I’ll be there for the vote, but I don’t want to sign the letter. I don’t want to speak out publicly.”

Mainstream pro-Israel groups and politicians have made the Boston Mapping Project into a punching bag. Many are using the Mapping Project to bash the campaign targeting Israel with boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) and to affirm the center-right pro-Israel line that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. A group of Congress members even stated that the project was likely to result in “violent attacks by supporters of the BDS movement” against Jews and Jewish organizations. The FBI has met with Jewish groups in Boston and said it is “tracking” the project over these concerns.

Testifying before Congress, Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL quotes Bruce Springsteen song titles to bash Amnesty International report calling out Israeli apartheid. “I’m on fire,” Amnesty International is having its “glory days,” but there will be “no surrender” to its “brilliant disguise.” Making a cute performance out of Palestinian suffering.