Context:
Rep. Jamaal Bowman loses New York primary to pro-Israel George Latimer, most expensive primary race ever
It really is insane. Just imagine a different PAC whose sole purpose is to advocate for any other foreign nation - and not just the obvious “baddies” like Russia, China, etc. - spending millions of dollars to oppose the election of congress members who don’t follow their agenda, and then openly bragging about it on social media. People would lose their goddamn minds, and rightfully so.
You can see which country spends money in US politics on OpenSecrets, actually.
Link for 2023 spending: https://www.opensecrets.org/fara?cycle=2023
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Country | 2023 Spending
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Liberia $235,465,089
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Saudi Arabia $93,058,680
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China $85,378,704
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Japan $69,410,221
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Hong Kong $55,957,695
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Bahamas $52,861,943
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Marshall Islands $45,711,184
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United Arab Emirates $40,491,794
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South Korea $30,982,223
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Canada $21,529,601
Yes, but those figures are very broad and primarily involve activities related to public relations, tourism and trade agreements. AIPAC is different.
Not only does AIPAC directly involve itself in US elections, it is not registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which puts tighter scrutiny on where the money comes from and how it is spent.
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.
USA is not a democracy, it is a plutocracy (government of the wealthy). Proof? To be a candidate you first need to find the money and the one with most money usually wins. It must not be like this, ban contributions higher than a certain amount and give some state contribution…
In the US, you can basically buy your politics, you justice, your executive, and your press. And a few rich people do exactly that, for no other benefit than their own.
Not that I disagree but can someone explain how one congressperson losing takes the percentage control from 85-90% to 98%…?
It’s a chilling effect on anyone who might criticize Israel.
The same thing Trump does to disloyal Republicans. “Won’t toe the line? We’ll primary you.”
So now when deciding on whether genocide is bad, the cowards in congress have a foreign controlled organization breathing down their necks.
Go read the AIPAC wikipedia. Between actively spying for the Israeli Government (Lawrence Anthony Franklin, Air Force Colonel, passed classified info to two AIPAC officials and an offical of the Israeli government. He got 13 years. Charges were dropped against AIPAC), and financially supporting 37 Republicans that voted against certifying the 2020 election, AIPAC is a right-wing organization designed to turn the US political establishment against the beliefs of the majority of US Jews in favor of a Trump/Netanyahu flavor of crony government.
It can’t work for every country. The main reason it works for Israel is that they hide behind anti-semitism accusations. We need to normalize willingness to criticize people regardless of their race.
