are what makes him dangerous; his ostensible mod-
eration gives cover to radicals like Tlaib, he said.

“Andy sincerely claims to be a lifelong Zionist,
proud Jew and defender of Israel,” Victor said in the
email. “So when Andy Levin insists he’s pro-Israel,
less engaged Democratic colleagues may take him at
his word.”
AIPAC, now that its affiliated PACs are in the
race, is also susceptible to perceptions about its
associations. A number of Democrats have attacked the PACs
for taking money from Republicans, and in the case
of AIPAC PAC, for endorsing dozens of Republicans
who voted not to cer-
tify Joe Biden’s elec-
tion as president even
after former President
Dona ld
Tr u m p
such as Ilhan Omar
spurred a deadly
and Betty McCollum of
insurrection at the
Minnesota and Rashida
Capitol. In a Michigan
Tlaib of Michigan.

race, one of UDP’s
Dorton said the PAC’s
donors is a Republican
decisions were stra-
industrialist, Edward
tegic: It’s hard to oust
Levy, who is funnel-
incumbents, and it was
ing money through
more important to keep
UDP to Adam Hollier,
anti-Israel primary can-
a state senator who
PATRICK DORTON
didates from gaining
backs an initiative
incumbency. that would open up a
“Part of it is evaluat-
gravel mining oppor-
ing a viable pro-Israel candidate versus a potential tunity for Levy.

anti-Israel ‘Squad’ type,” he said, referring to Tlaib
Bayroff said the net effect was that AIPAC appeared
and the small group of other progressive Democrats to be backing insurrectionists while taking on pro-
who push for forceful U.S. pressure on Israel, includ- gressives. J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben Ami, has
ing withholding aid.

said the perception is that AIPAC is doing battle with
Mark Mellman, the president of the Democratic people of color.

Majority for Israel PAC, which like the AIPAC-
Dorton ridiculed the notion, noting that UDP had
affiliated PACs has also promoted traditionally backed progressives and that most of the candidates
pro-Israel candidates, said there was no reason to AIPAC endorses were people of color. He said the
throw good money away.

mix of Republicans and Democrats showed unity
“We want to be in races where we can make a dif- of purpose.

ference,” said Mellman, whose group has spent over
“These individuals are completely putting aside
$6 million on primary races and has so far scored their partisan agendas to support candidates that are
35 wins and six losses. “There are some races where pro-Israel,” he said.

somebody’s going to win, somebody’s going to lose,
Notably, however, Dorton did not commit
and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
UDP to backing its Democratic primary win-
J Street’s Bayroff said he perceived the aim of ners in the general election against Republicans
the AIPAC-affiliated PACs as narrowing pro-Israel who might be equally or even more aligned
discourse to the uncritical dimensions that flour- with AIPAC’s agenda. (Wittmann said AIPAC
ished prior to the rise of J Street. He noted that PAC would support its endorsees throughout
UDP was spending millions in a Michigan race the cycle.)
pitting two Democratic incumbents against one
“We’re looking carefully at races and opportunities
another because of redistricting. Pro-AIPAC groups to expand the bipartisan pro-Israel majority,” was all
backed Rep. Haley Stevens and opposed the J Street- Dorton would say about November.

endorsed candidate, Rep. Andy Levin, a scion of a
If UDP sticks with the Democrats it backed in the
Jewish political family who is an outspoken pro- primaries, it could put AIPAC in the fraught position
moter of U.S. involvement in nudging Israel and the of backing one candidate who favors the group’s
Palestinians toward a two-state outcome. Levin lost Israel policies against another.

the primary.

Mellman said that’s why direct pro-Israel involve-
“They’re making this an extra-polarizing issue,” ment in elections should come from within the party,
Bayroff said. “They seem eager to try to make this and not an ostensibly neutral PAC.

a divide.”
“To the extent there’s a problem [about Israel] within
David Victor, a past AIPAC president who lives in the Democratic Party, it’s only going to be solved by
the Detroit area, said earlier this year in an email that Democrats working within the Democratic Party,”
was leaked to Levin backers that Levin’s credentials he said. JE
“IT HAS BECOME
Wittmann, the AIPAC PAC spokesman, said the
PACs helped foster clarity. “The PACs have high-
lighted who are the pro-Israel candidates and who
are detractors of Israel.”
J Street, a liberal Jewish Middle East policy group
launched in 2008 as a counterweight to AIPAC to create
space for what it describes as policies that are pro-Israel
while at times critical of its government, says that while
the short-term results may validate AIPAC’s gambit and
keep Democrats in line, long term it will have lasting
damage. Logan Bayroff, the group’s vice president of
communications, said the heavy-handed spend-
ing would alienate Democrats and Americans who
will identify AIPAC and the pro-Israel community
with bullying.

“Somehow, they expect at the end of the day that
all this is going to somehow strengthen support for
Israel,” Bayroff said. “I think this is an admission that
they can’t win on the merits.”
In some cases, the spending has alienated local pol-
iticians who resent out-of-state bigfooting. In North
Carolina, Marcia Morey, an influential state represen-
tative who otherwise does not have a record on Israel,
withdrew her support for Valerie Foushee, a congres-
sional candidate, because of what she called “massive
out-of-state donations” from AIPAC’s allied PACs on
Foushee’s behalf.

Dorton said the spread of anti-Israel sentiment
necessitated the bolder approach.

“The reality is that those radical anti-Israel views
have seeped over the last several years into politics
in a way that threatens the historic and bipartisan
support for Israel in Congress,” he said. “We feel it’s
necessary to highlight the contrasts between candi-
dates. These are important races.”
Some of the candidates UDP has opposed have not
been pronouncedly critical of Israel. In a Texas race
in which UDP backed incumbent Henry Cuellar, his
challenger, Jessica Cisneros, has little to no record
on the issue, and foreign policy didn’t feature on her
campaign website, though she had been endorsed by
J Street this year and in 2020, when she came close to
unseating Cuellar, who opposes abortion rights and
gun control measures. Cuellar edged out Cisneros
last month.

In other cases, UDP is not targeting some of
the most prominent Israel critics in the House,
CRYSTAL CLEAR THAT
BEING ANTI-ISRAEL WILL
HAVE A NEGATIVE EFFECT
ON A CANDIDACY.”
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 21