Pro-Israel America (Pro-Israel America PAC) is an American advocacy and

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, whic ...

group that supports pro-

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

policies. It serves as a channel for donations between members and endorsed candidates, which includes incumbent Members of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

or challengers regardless of political affiliation. It is closely affiliated with the

American Israel Public Affairs Committee The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. One of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the United Stat ...

and has a bipartisan history of endorsements.

History

Pro-Israel America was founded by Jeff Mendelsohn and Jonathan Missner in March 2019 and unveiled at the

Annual Policy Conference. Mendelsohn was AIPAC’s outreach director and Missner was previously the managing director of national affairs at AIPAC. The group was founded to encourage more

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

support and small dollar donations for pro-Israel political candidates. Noah Kulwin of

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

wrote that: Sludge, a 501(c)(3)

anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive measu ...

non-profit news website founded by the Participatory Politics Foundation, called Pro-Israel America "an AIPAC-Tied Group".

Political activity

2020

At launch, Pro-Israel America endorsed 14 Democrats and 13 Republicans. The slate included Senators

Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Con ...

(R- ME),

Cory Gardner Cory Scott Gardner (born August 22, 1974) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who served as a United States senator from Colorado from 2015 to 2021. A Republican, he was the U.S. representative for Colorado's 4th congressional dis ...

(R- CO),

Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A member of the Republican Party, Graham chaired the Senate Committee ...

(R- SC),

Jim Risch James Elroy Risch ( ; born May 3, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Idaho since 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he served as lieutenant governor of Idaho under governors Dirk Ke ...

(R- ID),

Ben Sasse Benjamin Eric Sasse ( ; born February 22, 1972) is an American politician and academic administrator serving as the junior United States senator for Nebraska since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Born in Plainview, Nebraska, Sas ...

(R- NE),

Chris Coons Christopher Andrew Coons (born September 9, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Delaware since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Coons served as the county executive of New Castle ...

(D- DL), Doug Jones (D- AL) and

Gary Peters Gary Charles Peters Sr. (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator from Michigan since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representat ...

(D- MI); Representatives

Steny Hoyer Steny Hamilton Hoyer (born June 14, 1939) is an American politician and attorney serving as the U.S. representative for since 1981 and as House Majority Leader since 2019. A Democrat, Hoyer was first elected in a special election on May 19, 19 ...

(D- MD-5),

Ted Deutch Theodore Eliot Deutch ( ; born May 7, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative from Florida's 22nd congressional district from 2010 to 2022. His district, numbered as the 19th district from 2010 to 2013 ...

(D- FL-22),

Eliot Engel Eliot Lance Engel (; born February 18, 1947) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from New York from 1989 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented a district covering portions of the north Bronx and so ...

(D- NY-16),

Josh Gottheimer Joshua S. Gottheimer ( ; born March 8, 1975) is an American attorney, writer, and public policy adviser who has served as the U.S. representative for since 2017. The district stretches along the northern border of the state from New York City' ...

(D- NJ-5),

Ted Lieu Ted W. Lieu (; born March 29, 1969) is an American politician and Air Force Reserve Command colonel who has represented California's 33rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2015. The district includes much of we ...

(D- CA-33),

Nita Lowey Nita Sue Lowey ( ) ( Melnikoff; born July 5, 1937) is an American politician who formerly served as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1989 until 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Lowey also served as co-Dean of the New York ...

(D-

NY-17 New York's 17th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in Southern New York. It includes all of Rockland County and portions of central and northwestern Westchester County, incl ...

Grace Meng Grace Meng (born October 1, 1975) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 6th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, her district is in the New York City borough of ...

(D- NY),

Stephanie Murphy Stephanie Murphy (born Đặng Thị Ngọc Dung; September 16, 1978) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 7th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated incumbent Rep ...

(D- FL-7),

Brad Schneider Bradley Scott Schneider (born August 20, 1961) is an American businessman and politician who became the U.S. representative for Illinois's 10th congressional district in 2017, previously holding the position from 2013 to 2015. Before he was el ...

(D- IL-10),

Brad Sherman Bradley James Sherman (born October 24, 1954) is an American accountant and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 30th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in 1 ...

(D- CA-30),

Juan Vargas Juan Carlos Vargas (born March 7, 1961) is an American businessman and politician who has been the U.S. representative for California since 2013. His district includes all of Imperial County and the southernmost portions of San Diego County. ...

(D-

CA-51 California's 51st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. The district is currently represented by . The district currently includes central and eastern portions of San Diego, as well as eastern sub ...

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician, serving as House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as House Majority Leader under spea ...

(R-

CA-23 California's 23rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. The district is represented in the 118th United States Congress by Jay Obernolte The current district includes parts of the southern San Joaq ...

Steve Chabot Steven Joseph Chabot ( ; born January 22, 1953) is an American politician and lawyer who has been the United States representative for since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented the district from 1995 to 2009. In 20 ...

(R-

OH-1 Ohio's 1st congressional district is represented by Republican Steve Chabot. This district includes the western four-fifths of Cincinnati, and borders both Kentucky and Indiana. This district was once represented by President William Hen ...

), Brian Fitzpatrick (R- PA-1),

Kay Granger Norvell Kay Granger (; born January 18, 1943) is an American Republican politician from the U.S. state of Texas. She has represented the state's 12th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997. She has been the ran ...

(R-

TX-12 Texas's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives is in the north portion of the state of Texas. As of 2017, the 12th district contained 806,551 people and had a median income of $67,703. It consists of the weste ...

Will Hurd William Ballard Hurd (born August 19, 1977) is an American politician and former CIA clandestine officer who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 23rd congressional district from 2015 to 2021. The district stretched approximately from ...

(R- TX-23),

Brian Mast Brian Jeffery Mast (born July 10, 1980) is an American politician and U.S. military veteran who has served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 21st congressional district since 2017. The district, numbered as the 18th district from 2017 to ...

(R- FL-18),

Michael McCaul Michael Thomas McCaul Sr. (born January 14, 1962) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, he chaired the House Committee on Homeland Security during the 113t ...

(R-

TX-10 ''TX-1'' is an arcade racing simulation game developed by Tatsumi and released in 1983. It was licensed to Namco, who in turn licensed it to Atari, Inc. for release in the United States, thus the game is considered a successor to ''Pole Posit ...

) and Joe Wilson (R- SC-2). Pro-Israel America raised $400,000 for

Ilhan Omar Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (born October 4, 1982) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. Before her election to Congress, Omar served in the Minnesot ...

's primary challenger, Antone Melton-Meaux. Omar won 58-38%. By July, the group had raised $2 million, amassed 150,000 members, and endorsed 52 candidates; 21 Republicans and 31 Democrats. In a post-election impact report, Pro-Israel America reported that endorsed candidates had a 95% victory rate. According to

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...

, 53% of contributions went to Democrats and 46% went to Republicans.

2021

Pro-Israel America endorsed

Cuyahoga County Council The Cuyahoga County Council is the legislative branch of the government of Cuyahoga County in Ohio. Cuyahoga, along with Summit, is one of only two of Ohio's 88 counties not governed by a three-member commission. The council and county executi ...

member

Shontel Brown Shontel Monique Brown (born June 24, 1975) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Ohio's 11th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Brown previously served as a member of the Cuyahog ...

in the Democratic primary for a 2021 special election in

Ohio's 11th congressional district Ohio's 11th congressional district encompasses portions of Cuyahoga County in Northeast Ohio, the Northeast part of the state—including most of the majority-black precincts in Cleveland. It has been represented by Shontel Brown since 2021. ...

. Pro-Israel views were initially seen as an important factor of the race and an indicator of Democrat's views on Israel.

References

External links

* {{American Israel Public Affairs Committee American Israel Public Affairs Committee Lobbying organizations in the United States Zionist organizations Pro-Israel political advocacy groups in the United States