These pro-Palestine PACs are trying to beat AIPAC at its own game
Together, the groups are bidding to take advantage of the moment and elect pro-Palestinian candidates as Americans’ sympathy for Israel wanes – though for now their results are mixed By JOSEPH STRAUSS28 March 2026 SHARE 1 Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrators rally outside AIPAC headquarters and the offices of Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, who've both been endorsed by the group, in New York City, February 22, 2024. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images/ via JTA) JTA — Some critics of AIPAC are calling for it to be excised from electoral politics. Others are working to beat the pro-Israel lobby at its own game. At least three groups have entered the scene this year as hopeful counterweights to pro-Israel lobbying groups, with an eye on progressive candidates. And they’ve borrowed some of AIPAC’s playbook to do so. The Peace, Accountability and Leadership PAC, or PAL PAC, was founded in February by Margaret DeReus, executive director of the Institute for Middle East Understanding. It has endorsed nine congressional candidates so far this year, and its website funnels visitors to donate to their campaigns. Promoted: Jewish Crossroads, Roya HakakianKeep Watchi A second group, American Priorities, is led by Hannah Fertig, a strategist who worked on Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign and is Jewish. Founded in January, the super PAC plans to spend “at least $10 million” on the midterms, according to Fertig, on candidates “who are very strong on our issues, both foreign policy and domestic policy.” In picking which challengers to back, Fertig...
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