Toxic Donations – AIPAC ends direct campaign contributions for US candidates

October 23, 2026

The largest and most powerful pro-Israel lobby group in the US announced on 21 October that it would no longer directly endorse congressional candidates, make direct campaign contributions, or send member donations to candidates.

Instead, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) will encourage members to donate directly to specific candidates or through other pro-Israel political action committees (PACs).

AIPAC announced the move in a letter to supporters on Wednesday, in a subtle acknowledgment that support for Israel has become a liability for political candidates following three years of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

The influential lobby group will continue to operate United Democracy Project, its super PAC, which has spent over $80 million on political campaigns this midterm election cycle to ensure that pro-Israel politicians are elected to Congress, the Senate, and state legislatures.

“The only tactic we’re married to is the most effective one,” AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa stated to Jewish Insider. “It’s always been that our activists have the biggest impact, and they are going to double down on their political contributions to candidates.”

What a joke! AIPAC has been funneling money through “democracy engine” instead of doing direct donations and bundling. I introduced a bill that would require AIPAC to disclose their influence campaigns just as others do under FARA. https://t.co/3cUZ4uq9O9

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) October 23, 2026

Since you always hide behind your organization, it’s time to drag you into the spotlight. The one thing you hate and fear the most.

This is the jewish person who is running the AIPAC account. He is trying to sell out America to Israel. pic.twitter.com/Yd6RFmcLhQ

— Dr. Simon (@goddek) October 22, 2026

AIPAC has become such a political liability that it’s shifting to a more “nimble” (read: secretive) approach to buying politicians for Israel

Instead of high profile endorsements and PAC donations, it will quietly mobilize individual donors for direct contributions pic.twitter.com/MzmvyoOPhX

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) October 21, 2026

Since you always hide behind your organization, it’s time to drag you into the spotlight. The one thing you hate and fear the most.

This is the jewish person who is running the AIPAC account. He is trying to sell out America to Israel. pic.twitter.com/Yd6RFmcLhQ

— Dr. Simon (@goddek) October 22, 2026

Pro-Israel candidates have long dominated the Congress and Senate, ensuring that Washington provides political, diplomatic, and military support to Israel despite its ongoing human rights violations and breaches of international law.

US support for Israel has become more controversial since the start of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, in particular among Democratic voters who opposed former president Joe Biden’s vast weapons shipments to the Israeli military despite its well-publicized atrocities.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote that “since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, AIPAC’s public backing has become a political liability for both AIPAC and many of the candidates it has endorsed.”

“AIPAC hasn’t become toxic because it supports candidates,” stated Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a rival Jewish lobbying group. “It’s become toxic because of the policies it’s asking candidates to defend.”

Beto O'Rourke says on it's 'hard to square' supporting a candidate who won't acknowledge the genocide in Gaza and says AIPAC has become 'a toxic force in our democracy' that shouldn't shape US policy.

(From @LeftReckoning podcast) pic.twitter.com/lfeH7B5Qag

— Politics Watch (@politics_watch1) August 31, 2026

As a result, AIPAC turned earlier this year to obscuring its contributions to candidates using PACs with vague or generic names such as Elect Chicago Women and Affordable Chicago Now.

Support from Israel has also become a liability for Republicans, who are traditionally even more supportive of Israel than Democrats.

In August, the Republican nominee for the Michigan Senate race, Mike Rogers, asked the Israel lobby not to campaign on his behalf publicly.

AIPAC, which has publicly boasted of its ability to elect candidates, has suffered a string of “embarrassing losses” in Democratic primaries this midterm cycle, including in Illinois, New Jersey, and California despite spending millions, Haaretz noted.

Thanks to social media, Israel’s war crimes have been difficult to hide from the US public. The Israeli military has killed more than 75,000 Palestinians in Gaza since 2023, the majority women and children, while laying waste to most of the besieged enclave.

Israeli leaders seek to ethnically cleanse Gaza’s nearly 2 million inhabitants and annex the strip to Israel for the sake of establishing Jewish settlements there.