American Israel Public Affairs Committee - Aims and Activities

Aims and Activities

AIPAC's stated purpose is to lobby the Congress of the United States on issues and legislation related to Israel. AIPAC regularly meets with members of Congress and holds events where it can share its views. AIPAC is not a political action committee, and does not directly donate to campaign contributions. Nevertheless, according to The Washington Post, "money is an important part of the equation." The Washington Post states that AIPAC's "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 Center for Responsive Politics. 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."

AIPAC's aims include pressuring the Palestinian Authority to adhere to its commitments to fight terrorism and incitement against the state of Israel with the eventual goal of creating two states one Jewish, one Arab, in the territorial holdings of Israel. They also wish to strengthen bilateral relations through shared intelligence and foreign military and economic aid to Israel, condemn the actions of the Iranian government in pursuing nuclear status and questioning the Holocaust, and levy financial restrictions in order to hinder Iran's nuclear development. Also important to the group is to support the U.S. congress and executive administration in rejecting the UN backed United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict's paper, commonly referred to as the "Goldstone Report."

AIPAC never supported or lobbied for the war in Iraq. According to a columnist in the Washington Post, "Once it was clear that the Bush administration was determined to go to war, AIPAC cheered from the sidelines". Some observers suggested the official silence owed to concerns that linking Israel to the war "could alienate friendly Arab states by suggesting that the war is driven by Israel's interests."

AIPAC's official position on Iran is to encourage a strong diplomatic and economic response coordinated among the United States government, its European allies, Russia, and China. AIPAC has demanded "crippling" sanctions against Iran.

In line with this approach, AIPAC has lobbied to levy economic embargoes and increase sanctions against Iran. According to the Jewish News Weekly, in 2006 AIPAC "successfully pressed for the removal of a provision in an Iraq war funding bill that would have required the president to get congressional approval for war against Iran" because it would have "restrain Bush" in confronting Iran.

AIPAC also provides political leadership training to undergraduate student groups in an effort to build a stronger pro-Israel movement among students on and off campuses nationwide.

In March 2009, AIPAC executive director Howard Kohr appeared before the House Committee on Appropriations' Foreign Operations subcommittee to testify about the importance of US aid to Israel. Kohr stated that "American assistance to Israel serves vital U.S. national security interests and advances critical U.S. foreign policy goals" and requested that Israel receive $2.775 billion in military aid in fiscal year 2010, as called for in the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Israel that allocates $30 billion in aid for the Jewish state over 10 years. Kohr stated that the military hardware Israel must purchase to face the increased threat of terrorism and Islamist radicalism is increasingly expensive due to the recent spike in petroleum prices which have enabled countries such as Iran to augment their military budgets. However, he added that Israel will also increase its defense spending as part of this effort.

AIPAC supports U.S. involvement in the peace process and advocates for a two-state solution based on direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. It supports continued U.S. involvement in "negotiations with an acceptance of Israel's need for secure, recognized and defensible borders, with the understanding that Israel must determine its own security requirements." It also supports U.S. support for Palestinian moderates, adding that such support "is more likely to lead to breakthroughs in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations because Israel will be more willing to take risks for peace when its security requirements are being addressed and when the United States is backing its efforts.