Context:
Rep. Jamaal Bowman loses New York primary to pro-Israel George Latimer, most expensive primary race ever
Sure, but even in other categories AIPAC is far from a top-player from what I understand.
Here are the numbers for the 2022 cycle, since 2024 isn’t done yet I found 2022 more relevant.
American Israel Public Affairs Cmte Contributions $13,423,002 Ranks 46 of 34,495
Lobbying Ranks 247 of 8,586 in 2022 $2,723,081 in 2022 $2,757,247 in 2021
Here is the section for the “Pro-Israel” Interest Group, which includes other groups than AIPAC. It still totals 44m$ for 2022.
Here is the page for Lobbying -> Single Issue category, for 2022. Here also, “Pro-Israel” is far from a top player. The “Human Rights” category, which many say is pretty much opposite of what Israel’s governement is doing these days, outspends them 16 to 1.
So everything I’ve seen so far really doesn’t push me to believe that they have such a massive influence that OP or whoever that Cenk Uygur guy is can honestly say “AIPAC controls everything”. Unless someone can show me there are numbers that are not taken into account in OpenSecrets (and then, if that’s the case, give me a comparison in how other groups use those alternative channels), then this is basically antisemitism (“Jews control the world”) from OP and Cenk, currently upvoted at +200.
You said “sure” but then went straight back to the Opensecrets rankings… You’re glossing over the point.
AIPAC receives it’s donations from inside the US, from pro-Israel Americans. Because the group is funded by private donors rather than the Israeli government or a foreign group, it does not need to be registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, so less oversight is given to where the money comes from and how it is spent.
What other foreign nation lobbying group donates $14M to the opponent of a congressman and pays for attack ads against him to hurt his chances in an upcoming election? It’s unprecedented.
Also, it’s worth noting that AIPAC takes money from anybody who is Pro-Israel, whether they be Jewish or not. There more Zionist Christians that Jews in America, in terms of pure numbers.
