Pro-Israel America - Influencing American Election Outcomes

While many people have heard about America-Israel Public Affairs Committee better known as AIPAC, Israel's most influential lobbyist in Washington, a new pro-Israel lobbyist is currently being launched that is appealing to Main Street America rather than America's pro-Israel oligarchs.

According to Jewish Currents, senior figures affiliated with AIPAC are set to launch a new political group called Pro-Israel America or PIA, a political group that will deal with smaller-dollar political donations that are designated for pro-Israel candidates.  Here is the lead page for the group's website:

Here is a video outlining the group's objectives:

Note the comment that "most Americans support a close relationship for our countries."

Here is the group's mission statement:

Here are the group's core beliefs:

"1.) We have a moral and humanitarian imperative to strengthen the U.S.–Israel relationship. Israel is the sovereign homeland of the Jewish people, providing both a refuge from persecution and the sole opportunity for Jewish national self-determination.

2.) We have an economic and strategic imperative to bolster the alliance between America and Israel. America’s close alliance with Israel, built over decades on the bedrock of shared values, provides significant benefits to both countries.

3.) The U.S.–Israel relationship should never be taken for granted. Electing pro-Israel candidates to the United States Congress plays an essential role in strengthening the dynamic bond between our countries.

4.) Israel is a force for good in the world, providing humanitarian aid globally and developing new technologies to heal the sick, feed the poor, and protect the environment, among many others.

5.) Israel is a functioning democracy, where diverse opinions compete actively in the marketplace of ideas.  Our role is not to determine the outcome of such debates nor impose solutions on Israel, but rather to ensure Israel remains safe so its people can make the often-tough decisions about peace and security.

6.) Israelis, Palestinians and the countries of the region should negotiate directly with each other to find both short- and long-term solutions to conflict, recognizing each other as essential partners in a future peace." (my bold)

According to a document obtained by Jewish Currents, PIA is aiming to recruit 10,000 donors who will give $200 each with the goal of raising $2 million for pro-Israel candidates from both political parties during the 2020 Presidential election cycle.  Currently, on its membership page, members have the option to donate $50, $100 or $200, a clear difference from the highly-funded AIPAC as shown here:

  

Here are the leaders of the newly minted pro-Israel organization:

Note that the group's Executive Director, Jeff Mendelson, spent more than ten years at AIPAC and management the group's outreach program which engaged non-Jewish people groups in pro-Israel activism, particularly evangelical Christians.  Tony Davis is a former president of AIPAC.  Michelle Lobel and her husband are substantial financial supporters of AIPAC as shown here and Emil Pitkin is the CEO of the political research firm GovPredict which has AIPAC as a client.

In case you are already contemplating who to vote for, let's look at which candidates Pro-Israel America supports for 2020.  Here are the Senate candidates:

Here are the House candidates:

Let's close with this quote from PIA that clearly tells us what is at stake for PIA and Israel in the upcoming 2020 election:

"The 2020 elections will be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Each of the 435 United States House of Representatives seats and 34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be up for election.

We know Congress is rapidly changing – more than 20 percent of current House members are new to Congress, and more than two-thirds of House and Senate members were elected after 2008. 

Challenges to the U.S. – Israel relationship have grown, and will continue to grow, in the years to come. We must be poised to use every tool at our disposal to educate and engage members of Congress politically.

The 2020 U.S. elections have the potential to drastically change the political landscape and could swing the balance of support for a number of important issues.  So much is at stake.

We need pro-Israel voices like yours to help protect our strong U.S.-Israel relationship. That’s why Pro-Israel America makes it easy for members to support the election of pro-Israel candidates on both sides of the aisle." (their bolds)

While the narrative since the 2016 election has been Russian meddling in America's political affairs, we can pretty clearly see that Israel is right up there when it comes to influencing America's political landscape in its own favour.  Somehow that seems to be palatable to Washington's bought and paid for insiders.  Pro-Israel America is just another player in the business-as-usual Congress.