AIPAC DONATED $95,000 TO US SPEAKER WHO PUSHED THROUGH ISRAEL AID PACKAGE: REPORT

Sat 20 January 2024:

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in November donated $95,000 to Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, after he pushed through a $14bn aid package for Israel, the Intercept reports.

The news organisation’s analysis of the Federal Election Commission records also shows that AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel lobby group in the US, was Johnson’s top donor in 2023, with a total of $104,000.

According to the FEC records Johnson received several small donations from AIPAC in late October, ranging from $10 to $500 a piece. These donations greatly increased the following month however, when Johnson received a total of 71 payments of up to $5,000 each, starting on November 5 and ending on November 29.

The majority of the payments came after Israel’s war on Gaza began and Johnson was elected House speaker in October.

AIPAC is a major powerbroker on Capitol Hill, where it gives money to lawmakers from both major political parties in order to preserve or enhance pro-Israel policies. In recent years, the group has become a more partisan actor, training its sights on Democratic critics of Israel. It has recruited primary challengers to progressive members of Congress and launched a super PAC, the United Democracy Project, through which it has spent millions of dollars to help defeat Democratic candidates who express concern or support for the people of Palestine in any way.

During a trip to Israel in 2020, which was sponsored by a mysterious nonprofit called the 12Tribe Films Foundation, Johnson also claimed that it’s “not true” that Palestinians “are oppressed in these areas, and have these terrible lives,” adding, “we didn’t see any of it.” On his trip, Johnson visited the West Bank city of Hebron which is notoriously segregated and home to hundred of Israeli settlers. His first trip to Israel, in 2017, was funded by the American Israel Education Foundation – AIPAC’s sister organization whose delegations to Israel are considered a rite of passage in Congress.

AIPAC, too, had loudly supported sending additional aid to Israel. In a late October tweet, the group described the bill as an effort to “fully fund critical security assistance for Israel.” In early November, the group targeted lawmakers, who voiced their opposition to aiding Israel’s military or spread awareness of the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, said that the group’s campaign contributions have two purposes: to “reward candidates who vote their way” and as “a cudgel that is used to keep people in line,” citing AIPAC’s past attack ads against Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Summer Lee, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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