DNC Panel Rejects Resolution Condemning AIPAC's Spending on Elections

Poll after poll shows that support for Israel and political candidates' associations with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group that poured more than $100 million into the 2024 elections, are toxic for the Democratic Party.

One of the most closely watched Democratic primary elections last month was significantly swayed toward US Senate candidate James Talarico in Texas when he spoke out against the US arming Israel.

And the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) own suppressed autopsy of the 2024 election found that the Biden administration's support for Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza harmed then-Vice President Kamala Harris' efforts to win over some voters.

But the mounting evidence that voters want candidates to shift away from the party's decadeslong alliance with Israel wasn't enough on Thursday to convince a DNC panel to approve a resolution condemning the "growing influence" of dark money and corporate spending in Democratic races, particularly by AIPAC.

The committee's resolutions panel killed the motion, which called for "robust" campaign finance transparency, at its spring meeting in New Orleans.

“The use of massive outside spending to support or oppose candidates based on their positions regarding international conflicts or foreign governments raises concerns about undue influence over democratic debate and policymaking, potentially constraining elected officials’ ability to represent the views of their constituents,” reads the resolution, which was submitted by Allison Minnerly, a DNC member from Florida.

The resolution was voted down weeks after organizations linked to AIPAC accounted for $22 million in super political action committee spending in Illinois' US House primaries.

Margaret DeReus, executive director of the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, said the vote shows that "Democratic leadership is asleep at the wheel when it comes to one of the biggest existential threats to the party."

"AIPAC’s extreme agenda for unconditional weapons funding to Israel is deeply out of step not just with most Democrats, but with the majority of the American people," said DeReus. "We know DNC officials conducting their unreleased post-2024 autopsy found President [Joe] Biden’s support for Israel cost Democrats votes in the last presidential election and paved the way for [President] Donald Trump to ascend to the White House. Party leadership needs to wake up.”

In a memo to the DNC resolutions committee ahead of the vote, the IMEU Policy Project stressed that "the vast majority of Democratic voters agree Israel is committing genocide and support ending weapons to Israel."

"Democratic elected officials face intense pressure from AIPAC to not align with their voters and most voters across the country," wrote the group.

Resolutions like the one Minnerly put forward, said DeReus on Thursday, are "entirely in step with the vast majority of Democratic voters."

Progressive advocate Brian Tashman wrote that "as Israeli settlers carry out violent pogroms, Israeli soldiers shoot children in Gaza in the head, Israeli warplanes bomb apartment buildings in Beirut, and Israeli leaders try to sabotage the Iran ceasefire, the pro-Israel lobby still demands total support for Israeli war crimes."