AIPAC: The Courage to Evolve

Eight years ago, a group of insurgent political candidates launched a war on the pro-Israel base of the Democratic Party – the party I’ve belonged to my entire adult life.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took down Joe Crowley, a ten-term pro-Israel Democrat. Ayanna Pressley beat Mike Capuano, another 20-year House Democrat. Two years later, Jamaal Bowman ousted Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And Cori Bush unseated Lacy Clay, who served for two decades in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Four Democratic, pro-Israel leaders unseated by anti-Israel challengers.

In 2021, the self-anointed “Squad” threatened to shut down the US government over the inclusion of emergency funding for Iron Dome, the defense system that has saved countless Israeli and Palestinian lives. Backed into a corner, the party leadership capitulated and stripped the funding from the key spending bill.

It was a wake-up call for the pro-Israel community. AIPAC answered it by entering the political arena.

That decision gave millions of pro-Israel Americans like me a new set of tools. We could organize. We could mobilize. We could fight for leaders who share our values.

The results have been extraordinary. Working together across every district in the country, our network of citizen activists has helped hundreds of pro-Israel candidates win elections and kept dozens of anti-Israel candidates out of Washington. That work helped ensure Congress stood strongly with the Jewish state after the October 7th massacre, and that America stood shoulder to shoulder with our ally as it fought a seven-front war of survival.

Imagine the environment today if those dozens of anti-Israel candidates had instead won their races. Imagine if there was no organized response to their ascent. If our friends who were standing up to the anti-Israel mob didn’t have the political resources needed to win.

AIPAC’s strategic vision five years ago to launch its political operation has had a positive impact for our community and our country. The leadership of ordinary Americans who chose to get involved, stay involved, and stand by our friends has strengthened the US-Israel relationship at a time when too many are working to undermine it.

This week, AIPAC announced it was doubling down on its political strategy, while also making changes to its tactics. The mission remains, the fight continues, the methodology is evolving. That is the very nature of our political landscape.

I have spent my career inside Jewish communal life. I love our institutions. I also know their habits. Too often, we hold on to structures long after they have stopped serving their purpose. We protect the way things have always been done. We wait for a crisis to force our hand – and by then, the options are fewer and the costs are higher.

Looking honestly at what works, and adjusting to be more effective is among the most important, most difficult, and least often done things a Jewish organization can do.

AIPAC just did it. Bravely. Proudly. Wisely.

The organization is expanding. It is introducing new tools that give our community the greatest possible political impact, and sunsetting others that are no longer critical to the mission. Among these changes, AIPAC’s PAC will no longer issue endorsements, make direct contributions to candidates, or be listed publicly as an earmark on individual contributions.

Pro-Israel Americans will keep organizing, keep hosting, keep giving directly to candidates who stand for a strong US-Israel relationship, and keep showing up in every corner of the country. That has always been the source of our strength. The adjustments AIPAC is making puts our mission and focus front and center.

That is institutional leadership. It takes confidence to change. It takes discipline to ask whether a tool still serves the goal or has simply become a habit. And it takes trust – trust that a community will follow the mission, not the mechanism.

We have major challenges ahead. Much like in 2018, a new group of extremists has plans to upend the Democratic Party, the US-Israel alliance, and the future of our country.

Meeting that moment will take more than conviction. It will take institutions willing to evolve and a community ready to act.

Today, we have both.

I’m all-in. I hope you are too.