AIPAC goes to the next level to support preferred US political candidates

DAN COLEMAN: America’s leading Jewish advocacy body is forming two new committees, one of which will have unlimited spending power to back pro-Israel candidates

ON DECEMBER 16, America’s most prominent Jewish advocacy body, American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC), announced that it was forming two new entities aimed at more directly influencing elections: a Political Action Committee (PAC) which can contribute up to $US5000 per candidate, and a Super PAC, which will be able to make unlimited independent expenditures to influence an election.

As AIPAC president Betsy Berns Korn tweeted when announcing the move, “the DC. political environment has been undergoing profound change. Hyper-partisanship, high congressional turnover, and the exponential growth in the cost of campaigns now dominate the landscape. The AIPAC PAC will highlight and support current pro-Israel candidates and members of Congress.”

AIPAC spokesman Marshall Wittmann added in an email: “The creation of a PAC and a super PAC is an opportunity to significantly deepen and strengthen the involvement of the pro-Israel community in politics.”

AIPAC has more than 100,000 members, a network of regional offices, and a vast pool of donors. Without the affiliated PACs, the lobby could not raise funds directly. Up until now, that has been left to its membership, and the amount of money they channel to political candidates can be difficult to track.

Despite the explanation given by AIPAC leaders, observers of Israeli politics in the US might wonder how much stronger their involvement could be. In an in-depth analysis of AIPAC published in 2014 in The New Yorker, journalist Connie Bruck concludes that “the influence of AIPAC, like that of the lobbies for firearms, banking, defence, and energy interests, has long been a feature of politics in Washington.”