US Republican leader Mike Rogers and his allies have reportedly asked the pro-Israel lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) not to run a campaign on his behalf ahead of the November general election. Rogers, who is a Republican Senate candidate from Michigan — home to one of the country’s largest Arab American populations — fears that open AIPAC support might backfire. According to a US media outlet, the request to the pro-Israel lobby came after Rogers met the AIPAC chair Michael Tuchin in Los Angeles last week.
This comes as the powerful pro-Israel lobby group has been facing mounting pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which has been largely critical of Israel and its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza. But now even Republican party candidates are looking to distance themselves from the group as a growing number of Americans, both on the left and right, have started to challenge US support for Israel. So, what is AIPAC and why is an increasing number of US politicians refusing to receive its support?
AIPAC is officially a non-partisan group that advocates unconditional US support for Israel and pushes back against any criticism of Israeli governments and their human rights record. It was established in 1954 under its original name, the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs. Its founding objective was to persuade Congress to fund Israel’s economy and the absorption of Jewish refugees and was framed as an American national interest rather than a special-interest favour.
After the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, its focus widened to military aid, advocating before US Congress members for military aid and joint defence cooperation for Israel. AIPAC itself gave nothing to electoral candidates until the early 1980s, when it began using a network of separately incorporated pro-Israel political action committees (PACs), private groups that pool contributions from people and donate them to political campaigns. That funding has been bipartisan, with AIPAC wielding significant influence in both parties; that was until a split emerged among Democrats, with progressives such as Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar entering Congress around 2018 and pushing to condition military aid on human rights compliance.
In December 2021, it changed strategy, directly spending through AIPAC PAC and AIPAC affiliate Super PAC United Democracy Project (UDP). Super PACs are funded by individuals, unions, and corporations and can donate unlimited amounts to independent organisations linked to a candidate. AIPAC said the shift was forced by a changed Washington, with its then-president, Betsy Berns Korn, citing hyperpartisanship, high congressional turnover, and the exponential growth in campaign costs.
AIPAC has focused on Democratic primaries in liberal-leaning congressional districts, as it has since the 2022 primaries, when progressives are more likely to succeed. Track AIPAC, an organisation that records the group’s funding of US politicians, has revealed that AIPAC spent more than $6 million on just one Democratic Party candidate, Melissa Hernandez, who ran and lost against progressive Democrat California state Sen. Aisha Wahab in a special election in California’s 14th district.
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