The Israel Lobby Keeps Falling Flat on Its Face
Zohran Mamdani’s win wasn’t the only race last week or even in the past few years where pro-Israel money and arguments failed. The Israel lobby’s power rests on appearing more fearsome than it actually is.
Michael Bloomberg speaking during the American Israel Public Affairs Committee 2020 Policy Conference in Washington, DC, March 2, 2020. (Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images)
The dirty little secret about the Israel First lobby is that it’s not actually as intimidating as it likes to claim. It’s very good at projecting strength, the shadow of a fearsome, roaring beast stretched and magnified by the angle of the sun. But when you turn around, you realize what’s behind you is a yawning kitten many times smaller.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent more than $100 million in the 2024 election cycle to project exactly this kind of strength, and to make it seem, as they are fond of saying, that “being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics.” They’ve certainly convinced a lot of people in Washington that that’s true.
“You got AIPAC telling any Democrat who stands up to [Benjamin] Netanyahu, ‘Guess what? We’re gonna primary you. We’re gonna spend millions of dollars to defeat you,’” Bernie Sanders recently said, a point he’s made repeatedly.
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