The American website The Intercept confirmed in a report that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) donated about $95,000 to Republican Representative Mike Johnson last November, according to the site’s analysis of Federal Election Commission records.
The Intercept added in a report by journalist Catherine Caruso that the pro-Israel lobby is considered the largest donor to Johnson in 2023 after he led the passage of a large aid package for Israel.
The Intercept said that most of the payments received by the US representative came after the beginning of the war on Gaza.
According to the website, Johnson – who refused to speak to The Intercept – received small donations in late October, which quickly increased significantly during the month of November.
The Intercept confirmed that this increase came after Johnson led the passage of significant support for Israel, estimated at $14 billion, when he presided over the House of Representatives, where he struggled to accelerate the passage of that support by separating it from the bill to provide aid allocated to Ukraine, and resorting to using IRS funds to finance it.
Public support for Israel
Once the bill passed the House, Johnson urged the Senate to approve it as quickly as possible.
The website confirmed that Johnson has always expressed his direct public support for Israel, and he previously confirmed on a trip to Israel in 2020 that it is not true that the Palestinians suffer from injustice in the region, and he continued, “We never see any of that.”
The website confirmed that AIPAC is considered an influential intermediary in the Capitol, as it provides money to legislators from the Republican and Democratic parties in order to continue maintaining pro-Israel policies, and in the recent period the organization has focused on members of the Democratic Party who are critical of Tel Aviv’s policies.
Reward
The Intercept quoted the head of the Arab American Institute, James Zogby, as saying that AIPAC’s contributions to election campaigns have two purposes, the first of which is to reward candidates who support Israel’s interests, and the second is to use them as a stick to keep politicians aligned in one row.
“On foreign policy, this is probably the single issue where money has the biggest negative impact,” said Stephen Walt, a professor of international relations at Harvard Kennedy School.
Even as a growing number of Democrats are willing to buck the pro-Israel consensus in Washington and reject AIPAC’s influence, they still suffer from a significant lack of resources, according to the American website.
The problem, Walt told The Intercept, is that “there are no similar groups on the other side,” as no pro-Palestinian or pro-Arab-American PAC has the same resources.