AIPAC Faces A Moment Of Truth With The Democratic Party

LOADING ERROR LOADING Major candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination have announced they will miss one of the biggest events on the national political calendar: the annual Washington conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. And it’s the latest evidence of a shift with big implications for the Democratic Party, the American Jewish community ― in which AIPAC has long held a dominant role that appears to be shrinking ― and U.S. foreign policy toward Israel and Palestine. Advocates, particularly younger American Jews, have also connected concerns about Israel and Palestine to the broader liberal agenda ― rejecting what Friedman described as AIPAC’s position, exemplified by Trump’s 2016 appearance at its conference amid the open racism of his campaign, that it “redefined pro-Israel to mean setting aside every other thing that you value in the world.” That’s the thinking behind noting and publicizing the track records of AIPAC attendees. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s courting of authoritarians abroad who demonize minorities helps campaigners make their point that true support of Israel, the Jewish people and progressive values requires change ― particularly given how the far-right, Islamophobic thinking of those leaders and their flirtations with “globalist” conspiracy theories has boosted international anti-Semitism. “It feels significant and not at all something to take for granted that also the more moderate candidates don’t see it as necessary to attend AIPAC, and it might actually be politically strategic for them given the coalitions they’re hoping to attract,” said Morriah Kaplan, a spokesperson for IfNotNow, a group popular among younger leftist American Jews.