Israel tensions surface as Democrats plot US midterms

Washington: Democrats are clashing this week over the influence of pro-Israel lobbying on American politics and the US ally’s military actions in the Middle East at a key strategy gathering ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Attendees at the three-day Democratic National Committee (DNC) conference in New Orleans on Thursday began weighing resolutions to recognize a Palestinian state, restrict military aid to Israel and denounce the “growing influence” of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The resolutions committee quickly killed the anti-AIPAC push, but the debate highlighted a persistent rift between party leaders and progressives angered by Israel’s bombing of Gaza and its US-backed conflict with Iran.

The meeting comes as Democrats reassess their stance on Israel, after former president Joe Biden’s Gaza policy was seen as having hurt his vice president Kamala Harris’s bid to succeed him in 2024.

AIPAC’s spending in congressional races has raised eyebrows, particularly a reported $22 million it shelled out in Illinois this year on Democratic primary contests to select candidates for November’s midterm elections.

“The DNC made clear today that all Democrats, including millions who are AIPAC members, have the right to participate fully in the democratic process,” AIPAC said in a statement to AFP.

“And we plan to do just that.”

The failure of the resolution had been expected — especially as the resolutions committee was mulling, and ultimately passed, a broader resolution that targeted dark money groups but didn’t single out any organization.

But Democratic opinion has been shifting against Israel, a nation of 10 million that is around three-quarters Jewish.

A new Pew Research survey found 80 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents view the country unfavorably, up from 69 percent last year and 53 percent in 2022.

An NBC poll, conducted in the opening days of the Iran war, put negative views at 57 percent — up 22 points since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The anti-AIPAC resolution cited “undue influence” and its multi-million-dollar spending in primaries.

The traditionally bipartisan organization, which seeks to work towards a majority pro-Israel US Congress, saw mixed success in Illinois, with two of its four preferred candidates winning their primaries.

– ‘Asleep at the wheel’ –

Rejecting AIPAC money has become a marker of ideological purity in some Democratic strongholds, with candidates like former presidential hopeful and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey swearing off the group.

Other high-profile Democrats vowing never to take AIPAC cash include Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro and Andy Beshear — the respective governors of California, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

AIPAC only spends on federal races, but all three are seen as potential future presidential candidates.

Billionaire Illinois Governor JB Pritzker — another rising Democratic star with White House ambitions — told The New York Times he broke with AIPAC around 2015 when, in his view, it shifted to the political right.

“I still believe it is significantly MAGA-influenced,” he said, in a reference to President Donald Trump’s right-wing Make America Great Again movement.

Party officials concluded after the 2024 election that support for Israel in its military campaign in Gaza had cost Democrats votes, although DNC Chair Ken Martin blocked the report’s release.

Separate proposals in New Orleans on placing conditions on military aid to Israel and recognizing a Palestinian state were referred to the DNC’s Middle East Working Group.

Pro-Palestinian groups, including the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), had urged support for the arms resolutions, arguing that most Democratic voters oppose US weapons for Israel.

IMEU Policy Project Executive Director Margaret DeReus accused Democrats who voted against the AIPAC resolution of being “asleep at the wheel.”

“In 2024, AIPAC was the largest source of Republican money in Democratic politics. Its mega-donors like Miriam Adelson and Paul Singer are deeply invested in ensuring Republicans defeat Democrats this November,” she said.

The DNC’s Resolutions Committee was reviewing 32 measures ahead of a final vote of the full DNC on Friday.