The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) - which has been one of the strongest pro-Israel lobbying groups in Washington for decades - is losing its influence because of its unconditional support for Israel and its growing alignment with Republicans, at a time when criticism of Israel's war on Gaza is expanding, marking a significant shift that now threatens its traditional position within the Democratic Party.
In an opinion piece in The New York Times, Eric Alterman - an English professor at Brooklyn College and a long-time observer of Israel and American Jews - states that the era of AIPAC's influence is over, as it has become a burden for Democratic politicians and a source of tension for American Jews. He believes that the refusal to accept its funds has become a unifying stance among Democrats.
From ally to burden
Alterman points out that unconditional support for Israel was once a nearly unanimous position in Congress thanks to AIPAC and its bipartisan efforts. However, the Israeli war on Gaza following the attacks of October 7, 2023, changed the environment, while Israel's popularity has declined.
According to a 2026 NBC poll, only 32% of American voters view Israel positively, with the percentage dropping to 13% among Democrats.
The article adds that the shift has also affected American Jews themselves; 61% of them said in a 2025 Washington Post poll that they believe Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza, while nearly 40% consider it has committed genocide.
Alterman reminds that AIPAC was founded in 1953 with the goal of defending Israel and providing it with financial, military, and diplomatic support from the U.S. By the 1960s, one senator described it as the most powerful lobbying group in U.S. foreign policy.
The article argues that the most significant turning point came with AIPAC's gradual shift to the right, particularly after the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and the collapse of the peace process. The bias deepened in 2015 when Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress, attacking the deal regarding the nuclear program with Iran. AIPAC and its allies spent nearly $30 million to defeat the deal, but to no avail.
Partisan bias
Since then, the organization has moved closer to the Republican Party, establishing a Political Action Committee in 2021 that supported over a hundred Republican candidates, including representatives who refused to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. The use of conservative funds to defeat liberal candidates in the Democratic primaries angered progressives and reinforced young Jews' feeling that AIPAC does not represent them.
Alterman presents examples of how AIPAC's strategy has backfired; it spent millions to defeat Democratic candidates, but some of them lost to more leftist candidates who reject unconditional support for Israel. Some Democratic politicians have also announced they are distancing themselves from AIPAC's funds for fear that the relationship could become an electoral burden.
The article concludes that AIPAC's insistence on a pro-Israel-first line and its alliance with a party whose stances - on issues like race, immigration, the economy, and democracy - conflict with broad sections of American Jews have eroded its influence within the Democratic Party, and may weaken its influence among Republicans as well.