Editing AIPAC (section)

===Controversies===
Former [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[William Fulbright]], in the 1970s, and former senior [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] official [[Victor Marchetti]], in the 1980s, contended that AIPAC should have registered under the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] (FARA).<ref>Ori Nir, [http://www.forward.com/articles/4064/ Leaders Fear Probe Will Force Pro-Israel Lobby To File as ‘Foreign Agent’], [[The Jewish Daily Forward]], December 31, 2004.</ref> FARA requires those who receive funds or act on behalf of a foreign government to register as a foreign agent. However, AIPAC states that the organization is a registered American lobbying group, funded by private donations, and maintains it receives "no financial assistance" from Israel or any other foreign group.<ref>{{cite web
  | title = What is AIPAC? A Voice for the U.S.-Israel Relationship
  | publisher = aipac.org
  | url = http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC/Learn_About_AIPAC/26.asp
  | access-date =September 9, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080917204558/http://aipac.org/about_AIPAC/Learn_About_AIPAC/26.asp| archive-date= September 17, 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>

In 2006, [[United States Representative|Representative]] [[Betty McCollum]] ([[Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party|DFL]]) of [[Minnesota]] demanded an apology from AIPAC, claiming an AIPAC representative had described her vote against the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 as "support for terrorists." McCollum stated that AIPAC representatives would not be allowed in her office until she received a written apology for the comment.<ref>{{cite magazine
  | last = McCollum
  | first = Betty
  | title = A Letter to AIPAC
  | magazine = [[New York Review of Books]]
  | volume = 53
  | issue = 10
  | date = June 8, 2006
  | url = http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19063
  | access-date =September 9, 2008}}</ref> AIPAC disputed McCollum's claim, and McCollum has since declared the incident over.<ref>{{cite news
 |author=Forward Staff
 |title=Lawmaker, Aipac Feud After Fight Over Hamas Bill
 |publisher=The Jewish Daily Forward
 |date=May 26, 2006
 |url=http://www.forward.com/articles/lawmaker-aipac-feud-after-fight-over-hamas-bill/
 |access-date=September 9, 2008
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610134359/http://www.forward.com/articles/lawmaker-aipac-feud-after-fight-over-hamas-bill/
 |archive-date=June 10, 2008
 |url-status=live
}}</ref>

====Steiner resignation====
In 1992, AIPAC president [[David Steiner (AIPAC)|David Steiner]] was forced to resign after he was recorded boasting about his political influence in obtaining aid for Israel. Steiner also claimed that he had "met with (then H.W. Bush [[U.S. Secretary of State]]) [[James Baker|Jim Baker]] and I cut a deal with him. I got, besides the $3 billion, you know they're looking for the Jewish votes, and I'll tell him whatever he wants to hear ... Besides the $10 billion in loan guarantees which was a fabulous thing, $3 billion in foreign, in military aid, and I got almost a billion dollars in other goodies that people don't even know about."<ref name="report">{{cite web|url=http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/1292/9212013.html|title=The Complete Unexpurgated AIPAC Tape|date=November 24, 2009 |publisher=[[WRMEA]]}}</ref> Steiner also claimed to be "negotiating" with the incoming [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] administration over who Clinton would appoint as [[United States Secretary of State|secretary of state]] and secretary of the [[National Security Agency]]. Steiner stated that AIPAC had "a dozen people in [the Clinton] campaign, in the headquarters... in Little Rock, and they're all going to get big jobs."<ref name="report"/>

New York real estate developer Haim Katz told ''[[The Washington Times]]'' that he taped the conversation because "as someone Jewish, I am concerned when a small group has a disproportionate power. I think that hurts everyone, including Jews. If David Steiner wants to talk about the incredible, disproportionate clout AIPAC has, the public should know about it."<ref>[http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/1292/9212069b.html AIPAC President Resigns], Sheldon L. Richman, December/January 1992/93, Page 69.</ref>

====Spying allegations====
{{Main|Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal|United States v. Franklin}}

In April 2005, AIPAC policy director [[Steve J. Rosen|Steven Rosen]] and AIPAC senior Iran analyst [[Keith Weissman]] were fired by AIPAC amid an [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] investigation into whether they passed classified U.S. information received from [[Lawrence Franklin]] on to the government of Israel. They were later indicted for illegally conspiring to gather and disclose classified national security information to Israel.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6059-2005Apr20.html "2 Senior AIPAC Employees Ousted"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', April 21, 2005</ref><ref>Ticker, Bruce. [http://www.pjvoice.com/v3/004aipac.html AIPAC Charges Offer Opportunity], ''[[Philadelphia Jewish Voice]]'', September 2005. Accessed March 27, 2006.</ref> AIPAC agreed to pay the legal fees for Weissman's defense through appeal if necessary.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. to drop Israel lobbyist spy case.. |url=https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2009/5/1/726928/- |access-date=2024-04-05 |website=Daily Kos |language=en}}</ref>

In May 2005, the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] announced that [[Larry Franklin|Lawrence Anthony Franklin]], a U.S. Air Force Reserves colonel working as a Department of Defense analyst at the Pentagon in the office of [[Douglas Feith]], had been arrested and charged by the FBI with providing classified national defense information to Israel. The six-count criminal complaint identified AIPAC by name and described a luncheon meeting in which, allegedly, Franklin disclosed top-secret information to two AIPAC officials.<ref name=rozen>Rozen, Laura and Vest, Jason. [http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=8764 Cloak and Swagger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070415230043/http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=8764 |date=April 15, 2007 }}, ''[[The American Prospect]]'', November 2, 2004.  Accessed March 27, 2006.</ref><ref>[https://fas.org/sgp/jud/aipac/franklin_facts.pdf "United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, ''U.S. v. Lawrence Anthony Franklin''{{-"}}],</ref>

Franklin pleaded guilty to passing government secrets to Rosen and Weissman and revealed for the first time that he also gave classified information directly to an Israeli government official in Washington. On January 20, 2006, he was sentenced to 151 months (almost 13 years) in prison and fined $10,000. As part of the plea agreement, Franklin agreed to cooperate in the larger federal investigation. All charges against the former AIPAC employees were dropped in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. to drop Israel lobbyist spy case |website=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE540463/ |access-date=2024-04-05}}</ref>

====Support for 2020 election deniers====
After the formation of its first [[political action committee]] (PAC) in early March 2022, AIPAC was criticized for backing the election campaigns of 37 Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying Biden's [[2020 U.S. presidential election]] victory after the [[2021 United States Capitol attack]].<ref name=McG22>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/23/aipac-pro-israel-group-backs-insurrectionist-republicans |title='Morally bankrupt': outrage after pro-Israel group backs insurrectionist Republicans |first=Chris|last=McGreal |author-link=Chris McGreal |date=23 March 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref name=Kam22>{{cite news |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-701727 |title=AIPAC defends its endorsees, including those who questioned Biden's election |first=Ron|last=Kampeas |author-link=Ron Kampeas |date=19 March 2022 |publisher=[[The Jerusalem Post]]}}</ref><ref name=Mag22>{{cite news|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/aipac-defends-endorsement-of-republicans-who-questioned-2020-election/ |title=AIPAC defends endorsement of Republicans who questioned 2020 election |first=Jacob|last=Magid |date=18 March 2022 |work=[[The Times of Israel]]}}</ref>

The endorsement of the politicians was described as "morally bankrupt and short-sighted" by [[Richard Haass]], president of the [[Council on Foreign Relations]], while [[Abe Foxman]], former head of the [[Anti-Defamation League]], called it a "sad mistake", and [[Dan Kurtzer]], a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, urged AIPAC to reconsider the move.<ref name=McG22/> Halie Soifer, of the [[Jewish Democratic Council of America]], said the move suggested "one must compromise support of America’s democracy to support Israel",<ref name=McG22/> which, she noted in an opinion piece published in ''[[Haaretz]]'', presents "a patently [[false dichotomy]] rejected by the overwhelming majority of American Jews."<ref name=McG22/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-aipac-s-latest-political-stunt-betrays-its-own-values-1.10670584 |title=AIPAC's Latest 'pro-Israel' Political Stunt Endangers America |first=Halie|last=Soifer |work=[[Haaretz]] |date=13 March 2022}}</ref>

AIPAC defended the endorsements by stating that it was "no moment for the pro-Israel movement to become selective about its friends".<ref name=McG22/><ref name=Kam22/><ref name=Mag22/> In a later, "rare rebuke" of the lobby group from within the Israeli government, [[Alon Tal]], a member of the [[Knesset]], criticized the AIPAC endorsements as "outrageous", noting that criticism was important for maintaining what Tal referred to as "a healthy relationship between Israel and American Jewry", according to ''[[The Times of Israel]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-rare-rebuke-mk-pans-aipac-endorsement-of-republicans-who-disputed-2020-election/ |title=In rare rebuke, MK pans AIPAC endorsement of Republicans who disputed 2020 election |author=Judah Ari Gross |date=28 March 2022 |work=[[The Times of Israel]]}}</ref>

====Financing pro-Israel Democrats in 2022====
Having endorsed over 100 Republican members of Congress who had voted against certifying Joe Biden's election, AIPAC spent $24 million, via its political action committee, the United Democracy Project, to defeat candidates not considered pro-Israel enough in the primaries of the Democratic Party that select candidates for the 2022 midterm elections. Substantial contributions to this funding were obtained from Republican Trump campaign financiers such as [[Paul Singer (businessman)|Paul Singer]] and [[Bernard Marcus|Bernie Marcus]],<ref name ="McGreal2022">{{cite web|first=Chris|last=McGreal|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/04/aipac-pro-israel-groups-primary-race|title=Pro-Israel groups denounced after pouring funds into primary race|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=August 4, 2022|access-date=August 26, 2022}}</ref> together with [[Haim Saban]].<ref name ="McGreal22" /> It spent $4 million to support [[Haley Stevens]] and defeat the Jewish congressman [[Andy Levin]] who is known to be critical of AIPAC's support for hardline Israeli policies.<ref name ="McGreal2022" /> It spent $7 million to defeat the favorite in a Maryland July primary, [[Donna Edwards]], who had failed to back resolutions in support of Israel during its [[2012 Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip|War in Gaza in  2012]].<ref name ="McGreal22">{{cite web|first=Chris|last=McGreal|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/18/democratic-primaries-aipac-israel-hardline|title=Pro-Israel hardliners spend millions to transform Democratic primaries|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=July 19, 2022|access-date=August 26, 2022}}</ref><ref name ="McGreal2022" /> A number of AIPAC supporters [[Weaponization of antisemitism|assert]] that reports focusing on AIPAC's campaign funding against candidates critical of Israel's policies are 'antisemitic'.<ref name ="McGreal2022" />