A scene from the 2019 AIPAC conference in Washington, DC Photo by Chelis May/Noor via Getty Images
Jacob Kornbleu
January 8, 2023
Senior Biden administration officials and congressional leaders are scheduled to address the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee’s Political Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C. on Monday and Tuesday. Among the officials scheduled to attend the two-day conference is US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Strengthen political activism during the 2022 election cycle, Highly competitive Democratic primary Through their Political Action Committee. The last time AIPAC held was his early March 2020, with over 15,000 people attending. Both the 2021 and 2022 conferences have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
AIPAC officials, who were not authorized to speak on record, said this week’s meeting, which will bring together about 1,000 political leaders and activists, will consider the results of the 2022 elections and will “make progress toward the 2024 election cycle.” We will work out a strategy,” he said. There are no legal priorities on the agenda.
AIPAC members helped the 365 Democratic and Republican candidates who raised and supported over $17 million in the last election cycle.Also, the affiliation United Democracy Project Super PAC It spent $28 million, including $1 million in the general election against Rep. Summer Lee, a progressive Democrat in Pennsylvania. AIPAC boasted that he won the general election with 98% of the candidates supported.
Speaking about the situation facing the pro-Israel movement, AIPAC leaders and top political practitioners said, “Increased political engagement has been an invaluable addition to our efforts to strengthen U.S.-Israel ties. They are expected to talk about “being part”.
group faced backlash against their large spending For supporting Republicans in the Democratic primary against progressive candidates and for refusing to prove Joe Biden’s election as president. Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is a frequent speaker at AIPAC’s local events and was a featured speaker on the main stage of the 2019 Policy Conference. Said the group was slowly moving away from the big tent approach and “changed in a way unacceptable to me”.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, head of the pro-Israel advocacy group J Street, has proposed to AIPAC that they suspend political spending on each other. “If they withdraw and say they won’t do this again in 2024, we won’t be spending money as a super PAC,” Ben-Ami said. interview last month“We expect them to disarm first. We are not going to disarm unilaterally.”