AIPAC is toxic to… Republicans?
Genocide defenders trying to hide their AIPAC connections.
Abdul El-Sayed’s landmark win in the Michigan Democratic Senate race this month was perhaps the biggest in a tide of pro-Palestine progressive victories in primary elections this summer. El-Sayed defeated more than $60 million in outside spending for his AIPAC-backed opponent, with more than $30 million spent by AIPAC directly — the most money the pro-genocide PAC has ever spent on a single race.
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of the general election looming in November for the Michigan Senate seat. It’s a showdown between JVP Action-endorsed El-Sayed, who successfully connected working class needs to ending U.S. support for Israel’s genocide to win his upset victory, and Trump-endorsed former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers, a staunch defender of Israel’s war crimes.
It’s unclear if Rogers has ever said no to military funding — he’s voted consistently to send untold billions abroad to fund war while starving social services and driving up costs for working people at home. The race between El-Sayed and Rogers is shaping up to be a national referendum on affordability and US support for genocide in Palestine. So it is inevitable AIPAC would return to spend even more outrageously.
But in this critical race, the warmongering Mike Rogers just asked AIPAC… to hide its support for his campaign. A day after Rogers met with AIPAC chair Michael Tuchin, the group canceled a ready-to-release video ad targeting El-Sayed. Rogers’ campaign reportedly proposed that instead of publicly supporting him under their own name, AIPAC should direct its donors to channel their money through a pro-Rogers super PAC. Or perhaps quietly hire an AIPAC political strategist directly to the campaign.
Clearly, Rogers isn’t actually rejecting support from AIPAC. Why would he, when their genocidal missions are aligned? But it is quite telling that even a Republican — who has unabashedly supported billions for death, at the expense of his constituents — can see clearly that the AIPAC brand is toxic.
This is the latest humiliation for AIPAC, as the Rogers rejection has made national headlines. Despite its growing toxicity, AIPAC alone has already spent over $100 million in this year’s midterms, under their own name or via shell PACs, and their allies will spend tens of millions more, all focused on backing pro-genocide, pro-corporate candidates who have no interest in the lives and livelihoods of everyday people. But over and over again, voters are proving that their money can’t buy elections.
“AIPAC, if you’re listening, come back and burn it again,” said El-Sayed before his victory in the primaries — referring to the tens of millions wasted by the anti-Palestinian, pro-genocide group trying to defeat him.
Every day, a reminder of why.
As the Israeli state continues its genocide and atrocities against the people of Palestine, every single day, we are reminded of why we do this work — and why defeating the defenders of genocide is so critical.
Last week, Israeli forces killed 17 people in Gaza over 24 hours, including 7 people killed in an airstrike on a seaside cafe. “We found people in pieces,” said one witness to the scene. Another Israeli airstrike the next day killed at least nine people near a park in Gaza. “Every day we say, ‘Tomorrow there’s hope. There is still hope,’ while the number of martyrs keeps rising. Let people feel for us. Yesterday, it was the port. Today, the municipal park, full of children. Every day, they take revenge on us,” eyewitness Abu Al-Baha said.
At the same time, in the occupied West Bank, spiraling settler violence and ethnic cleansing continued: Israeli forces and settlers, working hand-in-glove, carried out at least 467 attacks against Palestinians in one single week. Israeli forces detained at least 30 Palestinians in these raids — and one detainee, after being kidnapped by Israeli forces, reported having a number etched into his forehead and arms. “As if we were animals and beasts,” he said.
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Use this tool from the Palestinian Youth Movement to demand that newsrooms name Israel’s killing of journalists as murder meant to silence the truth. Amid a pro-Palestine shift, advocates are looking to roll back state anti-BDS laws.
What we’re reading: “Overturning Anti-BDS Laws is the Next Fight for the Pro-Palestine Left.”
Amid a pro-Palestine shift, advocates are looking to roll back state anti-BDS laws. It won’t be easy.
Mari Cohen and Alex Kane of Jewish Currents detail the ongoing fight across the country to repeal anti-BDS laws and other structural obstacles to advancing Palestinian rights and the right to protest and organize.
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