AIPAC money, working hand-in-glove with MAGA, targets progressives nationwide

Susheela Jayapal, a former Multnomah County Commissioner (right), is one of several pro-ceasefire candidates targeted by AIPAC in the 2024 elections. Millions in dark money poured into the campaign efforts of her opponent, Dr. Maxine Dexter (left). Here, the two participate in a debate during the Democratic Primary for Oregon's 3rd Congressional District, April 11, 2024.| Dave Killen / The Oregonian via AP

PORTLAND, Ore.—The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee—AIPCAC—is openly gloating that their dark money defeated African American Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York’s June 25 primary election. He’s not the only candidate they’ve defeated, though, and most of them are women of color.

Another is Democratic House hopeful Susheela Jayapal, defeated in Oregon’s May 21st primary to represent the state’s 3rd Congressional District. Over $1.3 million in AIPAC donations went to her opponent, Maxine Dexter.

AIPAC worked hand-in-glove with other right-wing outfits, including 314 Action PAC and Voters for Responsive Government. Much of their spending helped pay for a flood of attack ads to undermine the Jayapal campaign.

It also resulted in millions of dollars in direct donations to Dexter, helping her win even though she does not live in the 3rd CD.

Jayapal is the elder sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Washington State’s 7th CD in Seattle. Rep. Jayapal is one of scores of co-sponsors of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza and delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, 40,000 of them killed since the war began last October.

AIPAC, an unwavering supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has poured millions of dollars in dark money into efforts to defeat Democrats across the nation who oppose Israel’s war.

Speaking to reporters during an election night gathering in Portland, Susheela Jayapal said, “The role of money in politics…is one of the biggest threats to our democracy…. We are going to continue to fight to make sure that money does not buy our elections and money is not what creates power in this country.”

Standing beside her, nodding in agreement, was her sister Pramila, who had come down from Seattle.

Dexter, asked about the secret flood of money into her campaign coffers, replied, “I did not for one second compromise my integrity or my values…. If people choose to support me, I’m grateful for that. But there’s nothing that I did to pander.”

The media reported that Dexter supports a “ceasefire” in Gaza but only after Hamas is totally neutralized, a fig leaf that allows Israel to continue the war in which tens of thousands of Palestinians are dying from missile attacks, starvation, thirst, and epidemics of cholera, diphtheria, polio, and other diseases.

This is not a “ceasefire.” Essentially, Dexter gives her backing to Netanyahu’s demand for unconditional surrender of the Palestinians.

The secret AIPAC funding of the drive to defeat Susheela Jayapal was first exposed by The Intercept. The anti-Jayapal dark money, the journal reported, came from contributors “who had supported AIPAC” but “had also given in the past to Republican candidates including former President Donald Trump.”

Some of the money was funneled through 314 Action PAC, which ostensibly contributes to candidates with a science background. This outfit poured $2.2 million into Dexter’s campaign. Voters for Responsive Government contributed another $3.2 million to pay for attack ads against Jayapal.

Leaders of 314 Action PAC have claimed to be “progressive” and “inspired by Emily’s List.” It’s head, Shaughnessy Naughton, told the Washington Post in 2017 that it “only supports Democratic candidates.”

However, the group is seen by many as acting at the behest of AIPAC and its affiliated PAC, United Democracy Project, in the 2024 elections.

Both Susheela Jayapal and another Democratic contender for the same seat, Eddy Morales, accused 314 Action PAC of serving as a “front for Republican and pro-Israel interests, attempting to conceal their involvement in the elections.”

AIPAC’s United Democracy Project, which worked alongside 314 Action, has been funded overwhelmingly by billionaires and multi-millionaires who are prominent backers of Donald Trump, Rudolph Giuliani, Nikki Haley, and other right-wing candidates.

Typically, its spending in Democratic primaries has been aimed at weakening progressive Democrats or at moving the Democratic Party to the right.

Next targets: Bush and Omar

AIPAC is now contributing its dark money to defeat Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., the African American woman who is chief sponsor of the Ceasefire in Gaza resolution, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., of the Twin Cities.

AIPAC has a long and sordid history in the world of dirty politics.

It played an instrumental role in the defeat of Rep. Andy Levin, a pro-labor Democrat, nephew of U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, and son of Rep. Sander Levin, one of the most prominent Jewish families in Michigan. In 2022, redistricting resulted in two Congressional Districts being combined in Michigan. It meant that two incumbent Democrats ran against each other to represent the new 11th CD outside Detroit—Rep. Andy Levin and Rep. Haley Stevens.

Former AIPAC President David Victor denounced Levin as a “corrosive” lawmaker and urged Michigan voters to cast their ballots for Stevens. Levin describes himself as a “Zionist” a staunch supporter of Israel. His sin, however, was that he authored legislation putting limits on Israeli use of U.S. weapons. None of the aid could be used to support illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Stevens won the race, and she has been a fanatical supporter of Israeli expansionism ever since, including unwavering support for Netanyahu’s ruthless war in Gaza.

Over the past four years, the Detroit Metro News reports, AIPAC’s United Democracy Project has spent $4 million on ads supporting Stevens, and AIPAC has contributed $785,000 to her 2024 election so far.

“Of the 213 Democrats in the House, Stevens was one of only a dozen who joined Republicans in favors of a $14.3 billion aid package to Israel in November,” the Detroit Metro News reported.

To finance the handout, Republicans proposed cutting Internal Revenue Service funding by an equivalent $14.3 billion, even though the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said it would increase the deficit by $12 billion” due to a shortage of IRS agents to enforce the tax law. The Democratic leadership denounced the proposal as a “MAGA stunt,” but Stevens joined with Republicans anyway.

Last April, Stevens joined 20 other lawmakers in calling for a crackdown at Columbia University on protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Her pro-Netanyahu, pro-Republican positions are so extreme that Ahmed Ghanim, an Egyptian-American living in her district, has announced he is running against her in Michigan’s August primary.

“Haley Stevens is a genocide enabler and has children’s blood on her hands,” Ghanim said. “She has voted to send billions of our tax dollars against the will of the people to fund a genocide while the budgets for education, healthcare, and affordable housing continue to be cut.”

So, although AIPAC’s influence in advancing the Netanyahu government’s priorities is being seen nationwide, so too is the resistance of progressives and ceasefire advocates.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Tim Wheeler

Tim Wheeler has written over 10,000 news reports, exposés, op-eds, and commentaries in his half-century as a journalist for the Worker, Daily World, and People’s World. Tim also served as editor of the People’s Weekly World newspaper.  His book News for the 99% is a selection of his writings over the last 50 years representing a history of the nation and the world from a working-class point of view. After residing in Baltimore for many years, Tim now lives in Sequim, Wash.