Daily Dose From the Pod: My Experience With AIPAC, and Its Outsized-Role in American Politics
These Daily Doses come to you from my happy place in the backyard where I sit in an Adirondack chair with my back to the lone Sequoia Sempervirens that stands guard on the Western edge of our lot here in Silicon Valley.
Each day (or so) I’m sharing a brief thought about one thing. Perhaps it’s something that’s on your mind too. And if so, we each get to know we’re in this together.
Without further ado, here’s Today’s Daily Dose.
I came face-to-face with AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) this past winter, when I was a candidate for Congress and supported some form of ceasefire. I knew that when it was my turn to be interviewed by AIPAC, my job was to avoid raising their ire.
If you don’t know of them, AIPAC sits behind the scenes in American elections, and decides which politicians to support financially, and also, which politicians to “spend against,” whether on its own or through its affiliated political action committees (PACs) and Super PAC. The vagaries of these particular fundraising mechanisms might confuse and bore you. But it suffices to say that through some mechanism or another, AIPAC can raise and spend as much as they like to influence American elections. (And boy do they.) To read more on AIPAC’s influence, check out Politico’s recent article “AIPAC Uncorks $100 Million War Chest to Sink Progressive Candidates.”
My phone call interview with AIPAC lasted about forty-five minutes. It was just me and a genial local physician who handles AIPAC inquiries in my region. I focused on chit-chat for quite some time, so he would know I was a thoughtful listener, and also curious, smart, kind, and reasonable, before he drilled into whatever he needed to know about Julie-the-Candidate in order to decide whether AIPAC would do a negative spend on me.
About twenty minutes in, the man told me all about the organization. The salient points were:
AIPAC is an American organization.
AIPAC came into being after the Holocaust to be sure America had Israel’s back.
When it was my turn to ask some questions, I told the man that I understood and appreciated the origins of the organization and then I read back from my notes so the gentleman knew I’d been listening. I also told him I believed in Israel’s right to exist, and that my children are half-Jewish.
Then I pivoted to my values:
“You’re an American organization."
“Yes.”
“Can you help me understand how I should interpret something I’m reading in the news?”
“Of course.”
“I’m reading that AIPAC supports the re-election campaigns of over 100 members of Congress who supported the January 6 insurrection.”
“We don’t get involved in domestic politics.”
”Oh okay. But you’ve made the point that you’re an American organization. Let me try to rephrase. How does funding members of Congress who supported the January 6 insurrection help America?”
“We don’t get involved in domestic politics.”
“Well let me put it differently. How is the undermining of America’s very democracy good for Israel?”
“We don’t get involved in domestic politics.”
Just writing about my experience with AIPAC could be the nail in my coffin, should I ever seek to run for a higher office again. If that’s the price of speaking up, so be it.
Because looking back on my congressional race, I can see that I said less about Gaza and Israel than I wanted to, out of a fear of incurring the wrath of AIPAC and of the large group of wealthy Democrats in my region who are pivoting toward a more conservative and pro-Israel policy stance. It was a defensive posture. It was perhaps politically astute. But it also alienated me from me, and that kind of feeling will sit in your bones and eat away at you.
Meanwhile those progressive candidates who, unlike me, DID raise AIPAC’s ire are drowning from the deluge of money AIPAC spends to support their opponent, or on negative ads against them. Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York’s 16th district is one of them. His Democratic opponent is being propped up by AIPAC, and Bowman’s fate will be decided tomorrow.
We should all be tired of outsized money in American politics. Of the tremendous influence of a handful of wealthy people who create organizations and funnel money through them to determine policy and election outcomes in America. We should stop it. But in order for us to stop it we need to understand it.
AIPAC is one such organization. They have a stranglehold on politicians in both parties. And as is evident from their support of January 6 insurrectionists, they don’t care what happens IN or TO America. They just want to be sure that the treasure and policies of America support Israel.
I was relieved when AIPAC announced they were not going to get involved in my race. Alas, my congressional campaign ended in a loss anyway. After all of our bills were paid, I had a few thousand dollars left over. So I chose to give the maximum legally allowed to Susheela Jayapal, a progressive Democrat who was running for Congress in Portland Oregon, and whose primary Democratic competitor was heavily funded by AIPAC. (My legal limit was $2,000 while AIPAC was allowed to pour millions into supporting Jayapal’s pro-Israel Democratic opponent. You can read about AIPACs involvement in that race here.) Susheela lost by a 2-1 margin. I knew my meager dollars would be a drop of water in that desert. I did it on principle. And found it healing.
xo
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🗞️ Past “Daily Doses” include a brief meditation on the dumpster fire consuming our 20th Century’s progress, which you can read here.
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Ah yes, I'm very familiar with the evil AIPAC. As an active member (and leader) of J Street, a pro-Israel. pro-pease, pro-diplomacy alternative, we often battle for the hearts and minds of American Jews who've lost their way when it comes to Jewish values.
My own Congressman, Mike Levin (CA49th) is endorsed by J Street and threatened by AIPAC every election cycle. AIPAC has decided to align themselves with the GOP right -- an exceptional poor choice, IMO.
I'm sorry you were at the receiving end of their BS, also sorry you didn't prevail in your race. Congress needs more progressive women of color, and more of YOU specifically.
Thank you for holding on to what is right (left)
Rachel
Julie, I appreciate your perspective and that you have stated you are against antisemitism. With that said, I would love to throw out a few additional points on top of the other comments. First, instead of being "happy to debate anywhere or anytime," how about offering to listen to why your words stung some of your readers. I personally think that you have a right to criticize AIPAC and I appreciate that this "was an expository essay" about your experiences. However, there are a lot of PACs aside from AIPAC that support January 6 insurrectionists. You could have easily titled the article "The Extreme Power of PACs" and go on to explain your experience with AIPAC. Instead you chose to title your article "On the Outsized-Role of the Pro-Israel Lobby" and focus almost exclusively on AIPAC (aside from one vague paragraph towards the end) with many references to antisemtic tropes such as "wealthy and powerful donors." In light of rampant antisemitism, violence at synagogues in LA, intimidation on NY subways, vandalizing of Jewish businesses, calls that 6,000,000 wasn't enough or Hitler should have done more, can you not appreciate why your post hits a nerve? As Jews, we see it time and time again - many articles with salacious headlines, criticizing the Israeli government for the war in Gaza with little to no mention of Hamas or hostages (or the fact that Hamas started a war on 10/7 that Israel did not want). If an article does happen to mention Hamas, it is buried way down in the article and they cite casualty numbers without noting that combatants are also included in the statistics. These types of one-sided attacks/articles/reporting are one of the reasons that attacks on Jews seem to be acceptable right now.
Also, voting is a balancing act - no one is ever going to 100% agree with a candidate. I might hold my breath and vote for someone I do not like because he/she is pro-choice and that is my number one priority. Someone else might begrudgingly vote for a January 6 supporter because they are scared that they may need to flee with their family to Israel if the situation for Jews in the USA continues on the current path. Someone else might vote for a horrible, anti-democratic misogynist because they feel left behind. Just because you or I do not agree with the way someone votes does not make their stances less valid. And isn't it more constructive to try to understand what is motivating someone rather than dehumanizing?
In light of the vicious attacks on Jews right now, I think your article was insensitive and could unnecessarily fuel more blame and hate towards the Jewish community. I think you could have made your point in a much less divisive manner. As a Jew, I don't have it in me to debate you (as you proposed to another commenter) - I am too emotionally broken. But I would gladly have a discussion on how I feel as a Jew right now as I think it is more important than ever to appreciate that there are two sides to almost every story.