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Groups Form 'Reject AIPAC' Coalition to Fight Israel Lobby's Attacks on Progressives
"For too long, AIPAC and its Republican megadonors have demanded our elected leaders unconditionally support the Israeli military and government—or else," said coalition member Jewish Voice for Peace Action. "Enough."
Mar 11, 2024
U.S. progressive groups "working together to take on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its affiliated dark money super PACs" on Monday announced the launch of the Reject AIPAC coalition, which is urging candidates for federal office to not accept endorsements or contributions from the nation's most prominent Zionist lobby.
Reject AIPAC says it "will organize Democratic voters and elected officials to reject the destructive influence of the Republican megadonor-backed AIPAC on the Democratic primary process and our government's policy towards Palestine and Israel."
"We have watched as AIPAC has done everything it can to silence growing dissent in Congress against [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's assault on Gaza—which has killed over 31,000 Palestinians—even as Democratic voters overwhelmingly support a cease-fire and oppose sending more blank checks to the Israeli military," the coalition said in a statement.
"Now, AIPAC's Republican donor-funded super PAC is threatening to spend $100 million targeting the handful of Black and brown members of Congress who have led the calls for a cease-fire and the equal protection of Palestinian and Israeli lives," the groups continued.
Reject AIPAC members include Justice Democrats, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, IfNotNow, Working Families Party, Sunrise Movement, MPower Change Action Fund, Democratic Socialists of America, Our Revolution, Peace Action, National Iranian American Council, and Gen-Z for Change.
"For too long, AIPAC and its Republican megadonors have demanded our elected leaders unconditionally support the Israeli military and government—or else," Jewish Voice for Peace said on social media, adding, "Enough."
The coalition's launch comes as AIPAC taps a $100 million war chest from its United Democracy Project super PAC in a bid to defeat not only pro-Palestine congressional candidates but also anyone deemed insufficiently supportive of Israel as it wages a genocidal war on Gaza while perpetrating apartheid, occupation, settler colonization, and ethnic cleansing across the Palestinian territories.
"Already in this election year, pro-Israel candidates have been immensely successful in primaries, and we were proud to help elect Democrats and Republicans who stand with the Jewish state," AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann toldThe 19th on Monday.
"On Super Tuesday alone, 79 candidates endorsed by AIPAC won their primaries," he added. "We are continuing to evaluate races that involve detractors of the U.S.-Israel relationship."
Progressive lawmakers including Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who authored a cease-fire resolution co-sponsored by 18 House Democrats, and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)—the only Palestinian American member of Congress—have found themselves in AIPAC's crosshairs. So have more moderate Democrats who AIPAC believes don't show enough support for Israel. In 2022 the group spent $4 million toward a successful effort to unseat two-term Michigan Congressman Andy Levin, a self-described Zionist and former president of his synagogue.
Reject AIPAC is emphasizing the lobby's right-wing backers, asserting that "we cannot let a dark money super PAC, especially one that has endorsed 109 insurrectionist election deniers, 200+ anti-abortion extremists, and is funded by [former President] Donald Trump and Nikki Haley's megadonors, undermine our democracy."
"Now is the time for the whole of the Democratic Party to Reject AIPAC once and for all," the group added. "The overwhelming influence of corporate super PACs on our democracy and elections has expanded the gap between voters and their elected leaders into a canyon that has been exploited by every special interest and corporate lobby. Rejecting AIPAC is a crucial step in putting voters back at the center of our democracy."
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AIPAC's Dark Money Arm Unleashes $100 Million Blitz on Progressives
"AIPAC and their Republican mega-donors are targeting Black and brown Democratic incumbents with the same right-wing playbook across the country," warned Rep. Cori Bush.
Mar 04, 2024
Amidst global outcry over the ongoing assault on Gaza and the related humanitarian crisis it has wrought,the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's super PAC is set to spend a staggering $100 million against both pro-Palestine congressional progressives and more moderate Democratic candidates who the powerful lobby group believes don't sufficiently support Israel.
With increasing numbers of Democrats speaking out against the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over its genocide in Gaza and violent repression in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, AIPAC has shown zero tolerance for even the mildest criticism of Israeli government policies and practices.
Dave Min, a Democratic California state senator running for Rep. Katie Porter's (D-Calif.) House seat, has said very little publicly about Israel since the October 7 attacks, which he strongly condemned. He does not support a Gaza cease-fire. Min did, however, make the mistake of criticizing Netanyahu's leadership and Israeli settlement expansion during private talks with AIPAC leaders and members.
United Democracy Project, AIPAC's dark money group, retaliated by firing a broadside of television and mail ads hammering Min over his May 2023 drunk driving arrest as part of a $4.5 million blitz against him. Feeling the heat, Min turned to someone painfully familiar with AIPAC's wrath—former Michigan Congressman Andy Levin, a two-term Democratic incumbent, former synagogue president, and self-described Zionist who lost his seat following a $4 million AIPAC barrage during the 2022 Democratic primaries. The group targeted Levin over his opposition to Israel's occupation.
The former congressman toldPolitico this week that "most" candidates can't survive AIPAC's deep-pocketed attacks: "I'm afraid that they can be quite successful in wiping them out."
Progressives have hit back by spotlighting AIPAC's Republican benefactors, and the group's endorsement of over 100 GOP lawmakers who voted to subvert the 2020 presidential election in service of former President Donald Trump's "Big Lie" that Democrats rigged the contest.
"AIPAC and their Republican mega-donors are targeting Black and brown Democratic incumbents with the same right-wing playbook across the country," said Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), an outspoken critic of Israel's war on Gaza and the author of an October cease-fire resolution subsequently co-sponsored by 18 House Democrats.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) recently called AIPAC "basically a wholly owned subsidiary of the GOP" and a "front group for conservative policy."
Referring to the National Rifle Association, the right-wing lobby group that fronts for the U.S. gun industry, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) last month slammed AIPAC as "the NRA of foreign policy."
Usamah Andrabi, communications director for Justice Democrats, told Politico that "a handful of Republican billionaire mega-donors are using AIPAC to spend in Democratic primaries against Black and brown progressives, funding primary campaigns against the most popular and progressive members, so this should be a scandal."
"The whole of the Democratic Party should be united in opposition to this," he added.
But it isn't, and part of the reason why is that many Democrats are beneficiaries of AIPAC's largesse. It wasn't a Republican who unseated Levin, but rather Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens—who has been staunchly supportive of Israel even as its military forces have killed and maimed more than 100,000 Palestinians, forcibly displaced around 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people, and fueled growing famine by tightening an already crippling economic stranglehold on the besieged enclave.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), another strong pro-Israel voice, counted AIPAC as his top donor during the last election cycle. AIPAC has also been a leading contributor to lawmakers including Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who not only vocally support Israel, but also attack colleagues like Bush, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)—the only Palestinian American in Congress—for their pro-Palestinian views.
Democratic Majority for Israel, an AIPAC-connected group, is attacking progressives while backing nine House Democratic candidates, including Joana Weiss, who is running a nasty campaign against Min in California. But DMFI's support pales in comparison to the $4.5 million that AIPAC's United Democracy Project has spent in a bid to defeat Min.
"Despite state Sen. Min's support of Israel, and a broad coalition of endorsements from the Jewish community, a number of Republican donors at AIPAC are upset that he has called for Bibi Netanyahu to be held accountable for the security failures on October 7 and Netanyahu's failure of leadership during this crisis," Min campaign manager Dan Driscoll said in a statement. "Sen. Min does not believe in the annexation of West Bank settlements, he had hoped that a constructive dialogue could be had. It appears they disagreed."
Maurice Mitchell, political director for the Working Families Party, acknowledged to Politico that progressives are hard-pressed to match AIPAC's financial firepower.
"We can never go dollar for dollar, but our goal is to be competitive and we're going to do that," he said.
Progressives point to Democratic Pennsylvania Congresswoman Summer Lee—who in 2022 defeated AIPAC-backed Democrat Steve Irwin—as a sign of hope.
"A Republican-funded Super PAC threatened to spend $100 million against us—and our grassroots people-powered movement has responded loud and clear," Lee said earlier this year.
"I am so proud of the multigenerational, multiracial movement we have built in Western Pennsylvania to protect and expand our democracy—it is our greatest defense against the dark money super PACs and corporate lobbies who seek to undermine it," she added. "They have Donald Trump and Nikki Haley's donors, we have the overwhelming power of the people."
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Levin to Biden: 'If We Don't Change Course' on Gaza, 'We Can't Win' in November
"Frankly, I don't care what a bunch of talking-headed pundits say" about the push for Michigan Democrats to vote "uncommitted" in the primary. "We're here on the ground in Michigan and they are dead wrong."
Feb 19, 2024
Labor organizer and former congressman Andy Levin on Sunday became the latest progressive to lay out the facts on the ground in the key swing state of Michigan for U.S. President Joe Biden and issue a stark warning: If he doesn't end the government's support for Israel's bombardment of Gaza and demand a permanent cease-fire, he runs a serious risk of losing the presidency on November 5.
While Democratic pundits have complained in recent days that Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and other Michigan leaders are doing a disservice to the party by pushing voters to vote "uncommitted" in the state presidential primary on February 27, Levin made clear in an MSNBC interview that his support for the effort is the best way he can help Biden position himself for a victory in November.
While the progressive group Our Revolution and a coalition of Michigan leaders called Listen to Michigan are organizing the push for voters to vote "uncommitted," the groups are not "whipping this up," Levin told anchor Ayman Mohyeldin.
"People are not going to vote for Joe Biden on February 27 because they are really mad at him," said Levin. "Their cousins are dying. Their friends are dying."
With 200,000 Muslim voters and 300,000 people with Middle Eastern and North African ancestry in Michigan, which Biden won just only 154,000 votes in 2020, Levin is among those who say that in addition to the moral case for ending U.S. support for Israel, the Biden campaign must pay close attention to the political case as well.
"We have 1.4 million African Americans" in the state, Levin said, noting that the African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishops Council last week demanded Biden suspend military aid for what it called Israel's "mass genocide" of Palestinians.
"And then you've got 370-some thousand 18-to-24-year-old voters, all of whom are very upset," said Levin. "Now these are somewhat overlapping groups. But Ayman, Joe Biden won Michigan by 150,000 votes in 2020. We need these people to vote for Joe Biden on November 5th."
Levin was undeterred as Mohyeldin pointed out that political strategists and commentators have claimed the push for Michiganders to vote "uncommitted" in the primary will backfire and help former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate.
To the contrary, Levin told The New York Times last week, warning the president about the stakes in Michigan is "the best way I can help Joe Biden."
"Frankly, I don't care what a bunch of talking-headed pundits say on MSNBC," Levin told Mohyeldin on Sunday. "We're here on the ground in Michigan and they are dead wrong."
With two-thirds of Americans supporting a cease-fire, including three-quarters of Democrats, Michigan voters are among those who are angry over Israel's U.S.-backed killing of nearly 30,000 Palestinians since October, as both Israeli and American officials have repeatedly claimed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are targeting Hamas and not civilians.
"We can't stand on 28,000 people being killed," said Levin. "Women and children being killed at the fastest rate of any conflict since World War II. The most journalists being killed of any conflict on record... Two thousand-pound bombs, provided by the U.S., being dropped on places, according to The New York Times, where the IDF told civilians to run to, and then our military officials say we wouldn't use those bombs at all on such a dense population... I mean, people are super upset about this."
Blaming voters for not supporting Biden in the primary is "totally useless," added the former congressman. "What we're all saying is, 'This is a catastrophe in Gaza. We have to change course. Let's do it now and then November will take care of itself.'"
"I'm afraid if we don't change course then we can't win on November 5 and that's why I'm pouring my energy into this, because we cannot allow Donald Trump to be anywhere near the White House again."
Historian Barbara Ransby on Monday applauded Levin and Tlaib for their vehement support of the Listen to Michigan movement.
Richard Yeselson of Dissent magazine also applauded Levin's explanation of the movement in Michigan.
"This is the leverage—if you want Biden to win, you should not be prematurely pissed off about this!" said Yeselson. "Pressure Biden to do what is right, then vote."
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