AIPAC defends list of far-right endorsements to members

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has issued a letter to its members in an effort to defend its endorsements of far-right candidates, more than a quarter of whom deny the results of the 2020 presidential election.

"This is no moment for the pro-Israel movement to become selective about its friends," reads the letter, written by AIPAC President Betsy Berns Korn and CEO Howard Kohr, obtained by Jewish Insider and published last Friday morning.

"The one thing that guarantees Israel's ability to defend itself is the enduring support of the United States. When we launched our political action committee last year, we decided that we would base decisions about political contributions on only one thing: whether a political candidate supports the US-Israel relationship."

The endorsements earlier this month caused a stir, particularly in the Israeli and Jewish-American press, including from conservative-leaning voices, who believed AIPAC had gone too far in endorsing far-right candidates, some of whom have endorsed openly white supremacist and anti-Semitic views.

Most have pointed out that Jewish voters choose Democratic candidates by three to one. AIPAC, by far America's largest pro-Israel lobby group, however, appears to be cementing its role as a single-issue organisation.

"We can never let the things that divide Americans politically determine whether the United States will support Israel," the AIPAC leaders wrote in their letter. "We must be willing to stand with those who stand with Israel."

The letter concluded, "Israel can't afford to wait for such a moment of peril. Our job is to make America's friendship with Israel so robust, so certain, so broadly based, and so dependable that even the deep divisions of American politics never imperil that relationship and the ability of the Jewish state to defend itself."