Thread by @YousefMunayyer

“A lobby is like a night flower: it thrives in the dark and dies in the sun.” - Steven Rosen, former longtime AIPAC Director

“You see this napkin?” he said. “In twenty-four hours, we could have the signatures of seventy senators on this napkin.”

This is what Rosen told Jeff Goldberg newyorker.com/magazine/2005/…

Much has been made about Rep. @IlhanMN Omar's word choice but her decision to raise this issue has let to some much needed sunlight being shed on AIPAC. For example:

This important article by @AdyBarkan who speaks from personal experience about his interaction with AIPAC while working on a political campaign

thenation.com/article/ady-ba…

This article by @Bykowicz for the @WSJ on how AIPAC operates

wsj.com/articles/pro-i…

There @bykowicz tells us "Aipac raises more than $100 million a year from donors" and "Much of the Aipac-related money is channeled through a related nonprofit group that pays for congressional trips to Israel." but also, crucially...

Through its “Congressional Club,” some of Aipac’s 100,000 members commit to giving at least $2,500 a year to House or Senate candidates while ensuring the donations are made “in a clearly pro-Israel context,”. An AIPAC spokes refuse to say how big this "club" is

So while there are some things we can measure about AIPAC's budget, lobbying expenditure, etc, what we don't know is how much money it can leverage through the campaign contributions of its members and others

Here, this important article by @rosenberg_mj provides a lot of insight. MJ Rosenberg worked for AIPAC for years and was also a hill staffer.

thenation.com/article/aipac-…

MJ tells us he "sat in AIPAC staff meetings at which the political director discussed whom “we” would be supporting in this campaign and whom “we” were going to “destroy” in that one. "

What is clear is that the public deserves to know about the role of money and interest groups in shaping policy and there is lots of sunlight that needs to be shed on this night flower.

By pointing this out, Rep. Omar got people to ask important questions which, as you can see, AIPAC does not want people asking.

That is exactly why they must keep being asked, especially as we approach AIPAC's policy conference in March.

I will continue to update this thread with useful articles that shed light on the role and impact of AIPAC and other pro-Israel interest groups on US policy.