The New York Times published the headline “Bowman Falls in House Primary, Overtaken by Flood of Pro-Israel Money” — before swapping it out for “Bowman Falls to Latimer in a Loss for Progressive Democrats.” Other coverage emphasized that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s spending wasn’t the only factor in the race and that Bowman’s flaws made him particularly vulnerable, as did changed district lines that made his reelection even tougher.

Progressive strategists, however, had a much more clear takeaway from the results. “You don’t drop $15 million on an election if your positions are popular,” said Eva Borgwardt⁩, national spokesperson for the Jewish advocacy group IfNotNow, which endorsed Bowman. “This was an act of desperation from a pro-war lobby that is at odds with the majority of Americans, including American Jews.”

The amount of spending on the race should be alarming to everyone who cares about democracy, said Sophie Ellman-Golan, director of strategic communications at Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. “Now we know how much it costs to buy an election,” she said. “That price tag was nearly $25 million.” “It is noteworthy that many of AIPAC’s ads did not even mention Israel,” she said. “AIPAC understands that they are losing on the issues, because voters and constituents do not want to fund a genocide.”

AIPAC invested historic amounts of money in the race because it saw that unconditional support for Israel was unpopular among Democratic voters, Ellman-Golan said. “They would not have spent this much money if they were not scared,” she said. “You don’t spend $25 million — an unheard of amount in a primary — if you’re feeling confident in your candidate.”

    • @givesomefucks
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      6 months ago

      https://forward.com/opinion/395676/its-time-for-aipac-to-register-as-a-foreign-agent/

      https://www.wrmea.org/north-america/aipac-election-role-raises-question-of-foreign-agent-registration.html

      https://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/AIPAC-case-asks-Who-is-a-foreign-agent

      But the whole thing is confusing because there’s AIPAC, AIPAC PAC. And AIPAC super PAC, along with less obvious overlaps.

      This is intentional because the entire reason AIPAC exists, is former methods of Israel lobbying the American government had been shut down.

      Journalist and lawyer Isaiah L. Kenen founded the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs (AZCPA) as a lobbying division of the American Zionist Council (AZC), and they split in 1954.[9] Kenen, a lobbyist for the Israeli government,[8] had at earlier times worked for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a lobbyist, Kenen diverged from AZC’s usual public relations efforts by trying to broaden support for Israel among traditionally non-Zionist groups. The founding of the new organization was in part a response to the negative international reaction to the October 1953 Qibya massacre, in which Israeli troops under Ariel Sharon killed at least sixty-nine Palestinian villagers, two-thirds of them women and children.[9] As the Eisenhower administration suspected the AZC of being funded by the government of Israel, it was decided that the lobbying efforts should be separated into a separate organization with separate finances.[9]

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIPAC

      • @Ensign_Crab
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        36 months ago

        No centrist cares. They found their technicality.

        • @givesomefucks
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          46 months ago

          Yeah, but PACs are so normalized some people may honestly not understand why AIPAC should be registered as a foreign actor.

          Pretty much the only reason they’re not, is AIPAC donates to the people on the committee that makes that decision.

          It’s always worth it to post sources. It’s not just for the benefit of who you’re replying to.