AIPAC stops taking donations for House Democrats who voted to cut military aid to Israel

The pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC has stopped accepting fundraising contributions for US House Democrats who this week voted for a measure to cut off all military aid to Israel, according to a report from The New York Times.

The amendment was defeated in a vote of 314 to 104 on Wednesday, but nearly half of Democrats voted in favor of it, reflecting the growing rupture between the party and Israel.

Among the 103 House Democrats who voted in favor of the amendment, which was introduced as part of a State Department spending bill by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, were 15 who had previously been endorsed by AIPAC for reelection in November.

Massie was the only Republican to back the measure.

By Friday, the Times reported, it was no longer possible to donate to the campaigns of the 15 AIPAC-endorsed House Democrats via the lobbying group’s website.

Among those affected by the change was Democratic Rep. Katherine Clark, the minority whip of the House of Representatives.

Clark had said ahead of the vote on Wednesday that she would support the motion because she believed Washington “should not provide a blank check for military aid to any country that does not comply with US law, interests, and values.”

Approached for comment on the decision by the Times, an AIPAC spokesperson said, “AIPAC members are deeply appreciative of their representatives who stand on principle and are disappointed by those who don’t.”

The support among Democrats for the motion to cut off aid to Israel was a sharp departure from previous years, in which bills supporting Israel passed almost unanimously. Democrats on the party’s left flank have been strongly pushing to end US military aid to Israel entirely amid the midterm election primary campaigns, while its establishment wing wants to limit the assistance to solely defensive weaponry.

While 48 percent of Democrats backed Massie’s amendment, the figure was well below reported predictions that as many as 150 Democrats could vote for it.

The number was expected to be higher because the measure was certain to fail, allowing Democrats to vote against Israel without any practical policy consequences.

Enough Democrats still felt uncomfortable enough with the scope of Massie’s amendment that they decided to vote against it, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is overwhelmingly unpopular in the party.

Massie is a fiscal hawk who opposes all foreign aid, but he said he was also responding to the toll on civilians of Israel’s attacks on Hamas in Gaza. “There have been 70,000 casualties in Gaza, and I don’t think we should be part of that,” he said during House deliberations, without differentiating between civilians and combatants.

His amendment would have barred any funding in the appropriations bill from being used for Israel, and blocked $3.3 billion in annual security assistance Washington sends Israel.

Jacob Magid and agencies contributed to this report.

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