Editing AIPAC (section)

===Generating support among policymakers===
[[File:Secretary Pompeo Delivers a Speech at AIPAC (49611582676).jpg|thumb|US secretary of state [[Mike Pompeo]] speaks at the AIPAC 2020 Policy Conference.]]
[[Thomas Dine]] developed a network to reach every member of congress. American Jews, the "vital core" of AIPAC membership,<ref name=bruck-core>{{cite magazine|last1=Bruck|first1=Connie|title=Friends of Israel|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 1, 2014|page=52 column 3|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/friends-israel|access-date=September 9, 2014}}</ref> made up less than 3% of the U.S. population and was concentrated in only nine states.<ref name=bruck-3percent>{{cite magazine|last1=Bruck|first1=Connie|title=Friends of Israel|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 1, 2014|page=54 column 1|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/friends-israel|access-date=September 9, 2014}}</ref> Today, thousands of AIPAC supporters gather at AIPAC's annual Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. every year. Donors and VIPs are invited to the Leadership Reception on the final night of the conference, which hosts hundreds of members of Congress.<ref name="nation20190214">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/aipac-omar-israel-congress-anti-semitism/|title=This Is How AIPAC Really Works|last=Rosenberg|first=M. J.|journal=The Nation|date=2019-02-14|access-date=2019-10-20|language=en-US|issn=0027-8378|archive-date=June 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603185737/https://www.thenation.com/article/aipac-omar-israel-congress-anti-semitism/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

AIPAC has created "caucuses" in every [[congressional district]], with AIPAC staffers organizing every district's Jewish community, regardless of size. Campaign contributions were bundled and distributed to candidates in congressional districts and where they would do some good. According to journalist Connie Bruck, by the end of the 1980s, there were "dozens" of political action committees with no formal relation to AIPAC, but whose leader was often an AIPAC member.<ref name="bruck-3percent" /> ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' reports that in 1987 at least 51 of 80 pro-Israel PACs were operated by AIPAC officials.<ref>''The Wall Street Journal'', June 24, 1987, p.1</ref><ref name="Thomas-100">{{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Michael|title=American Policy Toward Israel: The Power and Limits of Beliefs |publisher=Routledge |page=100|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dc2TAgAAQBAJ&q=PACs+of++AIPAC+members&pg=PA100|isbn=978-1-135-98345-1}}</ref> Some committees that "operate independently" of AIPAC but "whose missions and membership align" with it include the Florida Congressional Committee, NORPAC in [[New Jersey]], To Protect Our Heritage PAC near [[Chicago]], and the [[Maryland]] Association for Concerned Citizens near [[Baltimore]].<ref name="Stolberg-too-powerful-4-3-2019" />

''[[The Washington Post]]'' states that "its Web site, which details how members of Congress voted on AIPAC's key issues, and the ''AIPAC Insider'', a glossy periodical that handicaps close political races, are scrutinized by thousands of potential donors. Pro-Israel interests have contributed $56.8 million in individual, group, and [[soft money]] donations to federal candidates and party committees since 1990, according to the non-partisan [[OpenSecrets]]. Between the 2000 and the 2004 elections, the 50 members of AIPAC's board donated an average of $72,000 each to campaigns and political action committees."<ref name="Post-friendship">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/12/AR2006071201627_pf.html|title=A Beautiful Friendship?|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|first=Glenn|last=Frankel|date=July 16, 2006|access-date=June 30, 2024}}</ref> According to Dine, in the 1980s and 1990s contributions from AIPAC members often constituted "roughly 10 to 15% of a typical congressional campaign budget."<ref name=bruck/>

AIPAC influences lawmakers in other ways by:
*matching an AIPAC member with shared interests to a member of Congress.<ref name=bruck-expenses>{{cite magazine|last1=Bruck|first1=Connie|title=Friends of Israel|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 1, 2014|page=53|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/friends-israel|access-date=September 9, 2014|quote=AIPAC representatives tried to match each member of Congress with a contact who shared the congressman's interests. If a member of Congress rode a Harley-Davidson, AIPAC found a contact who did, too. The goal was to develop people who could get a member of Congress on the phone at a moment's notice.}}</ref> Sheryl Gay Stolberg calls the system of "key contacts" AIPAC's "secret" and quotes activist Tom Dine as saying that AIPAC's office can call on "five to 15" key contacts for every senator including "standoffish" ones.<ref name="Stolberg-too-powerful-4-3-2019"/>
*carefully curated trips to Israel for legislators and other opinion-makers, all-expenses-paid for by AIPAC's charitable arm, the American Israel Education Foundation.<ref name=bruck-expenses2>{{cite magazine|last1=Bruck|first1=Connie|title=Friends of Israel|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 1, 2014|page=53|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/friends-israel|access-date=September 9, 2014|quote=Soon after taking office, Baird went on a "virtually obligatory" trip to Israel: a freshman ritual in which everything—business-class flights, accommodations at the King David or the Citadel—is paid for by AIPAC's charitable arm. The tours are carefully curated. "They do have you meet with the Palestinian leaders, in a sort of token process", Baird said. "But then when you're done with it, they tell you everything the Palestinian leaders said that's wrong. And, of course, the Palestinians don't get to have dinner with you at the hotel that night."}}</ref> In 2005 alone, more than 100 members of Congress visited Israel, some multiple times.<ref>Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 13, 2006</ref>
*cultivating student leaders such as student body presidents.<ref name=bruck-student>{{cite magazine|last1=Bruck|first1=Connie|title=Friends of Israel|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 1, 2014|page=54|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/friends-israel|access-date=September 9, 2014|quote=local AIPAC staffers, in the manner of basketball recruiters, befriend some members when they are still serving on the student council. "If you have a dream about running for office, AIPAC calls you", one House member said. Certainly, it's a rarity when someone undertakes a campaign for the House or the Senate today without hearing from AIPAC.}}</ref> At colleges, it provides "political leadership training" to undergraduate student groups. This is an effort to "build a stronger pro-Israel movement among students on and off campuses nationwide."<ref name=Usa>{{cite book|last1=Usa|first1=Ibp|title=Jewish Lobby in the United States Handbook: Organization, Operations ...|publisher=International Business Publications.|page=26|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QPsrxlF18_UC&q=AIPAC+provides+political+leadership+training+to+undergraduate+student+groups&pg=PA26|isbn=978-1-4387-2611-3|date=June 2, 2019}}</ref>
*sympathy for Israel among the general public.<ref name=bruck-unlocked>{{cite magazine|last1=Bruck|first1=Connie|title=Friends of Israel|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 1, 2014|pages=50–63|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/friends-israel|access-date=September 9, 2014|quote=In the early days, Howard Berman said, "AIPAC was knocking on an unlocked door." Most Americans have been favorably disposed toward Israel since its founding, and no other lobby spoke for them on a national scale. Unlike other lobbies—such as the N.R.A., which is opposed by various anti-gun groups—AIPAC did not face a significant and well-funded countervailing force.}}</ref>

AIPAC has supported loyal incumbents (such as Senator [[Lowell P. Weicker Jr.]], R-[[Connecticut]]) even when opposed by Jewish candidates, and the organization has worked to unseat pro-Palestinian incumbents (such as Representative [[Paul Findley]]) or candidates perceived to be unsympathetic to Israel (Senator [[Charles H. Percy]]).<ref name=bruck/> However, a Jewish member of Congress, Representative [[Jan Schakowsky]] (D-Illinois), who had maintained good relations with AIPAC and had been given campaign contributions by its members, was opposed by the group in her 2010 reelection campaign after she was endorsed by the advocacy group [[J Street (advocacy group)|J Street]].<ref name=bruck/>

According to former representative [[Brian Baird]] (D-[[Washington (state)|Washington]]), "Any member of Congress knows that AIPAC is associated indirectly with significant amounts of campaign spending if you're with them, and significant amounts against you if you're not with them." "AIPAC-connected money" amounted to about $200,000 in each of his campaigns for office—"and that's two hundred thousand going your way, versus the other way: a four-hundred-thousand-dollar swing."<ref name=bruck-p58>{{cite magazine|last1=Bruck|first1=Connie|title=Friends of Israel|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 1, 2014|page=58 column 1|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/friends-israel|access-date=September 9, 2014}}</ref> AIPAC-directed campaign contributions—as with many interest groups—came with considerable "tactical input". AIPAC staffers told Baird and other lawmakers, "No, we don't say it that way, we say it this way." Baird complained, "There's a whole complex semantic code you learn. ... After a while, you find yourself saying and repeating it as if it were fact."<ref name="bruck" />