AIPAC’s Colossal Own Goal
The Israel lobby just replaced a moderate Zionist and former member of Congress with a harsh critic of Israel. Smart!
For decades, a principal goal of Israeli foreign policy was to make supporting Israel a bipartisan consensus in the United States. Israel may be a small country in an unstable part of the world, but it has the lockstep backing – militarily and diplomatically – of the global hegemon. Thanks to America’s unconditional support, Israeli security would be nearly guaranteed, and its freedom of action would be as wide as possible.
Within the United States, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has been a key actor in this strategy. It’s used strategic political donations, heavily funding its supporters as well as any challengers to anti-Zionist candidates, to ensure a large pro-Israel caucus.
But now, the strategy is coming apart. The pro-Israel lobby’s latest target was a baffling one: former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who was running in a special election primary for New Jersey’s 11th district. Malinowski has been a fairly strong supporter of Israel, but made some token outreach to Israel critics in his campaign. AIPAC’s super PAC in turn dumped $2.3 million in negative ads on him – and as a result, helped throw the election to Analilia Mejia, a harsh critic of Israel who is now almost certain to win the general election. Whoops!