AIPAC Is Raising Huge Amounts To Topple Antiwar Representatives

Internal AIPAC materials reveal huge gifts from moguls — and the strategies lobbyists used to score the cash.

by Amos Barshad, The Lever

In the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has reaped a $90 million fundraising haul, according to confidential internal documents reviewed by The Lever.

Large donations flowed as the influential pro-Israel lobbying group hosted a remobilized Israeli military official who reassured potential contributors that the country’s military was doing everything possible to mitigate civilian casualties in Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, according to donor-only meetings reviewed by The Lever.

AIPAC convention with a speaker at the podium

From January to September 2023, the non-public documents show that AIPAC received an average of around $12 million in monthly pledged donations. By contrast, in October alone, the documents show that AIPAC received more than triple that amount — more than $40 million in pledged donations. In the following two months, donors pledged another nearly $50 million.

Top benefactors on a list of 2023 donors reviewed by The Lever represent a cross-section of the U.S. elite, including pro sports teams owners; heads of private equity firms; real estate titans; a Maryland congressman now running for the U.S. Senate; the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret; the co-founder of the dance-exercise company Zumba; and the creator of Squishmallows, the beloved children’s toy.