Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), one of 15 House Democrats whose fundraising links were removed from AIPAC’s website after the members voted against military aid to Israel, told JNS that he is aware that the pro-Israel group might stop supporting him “in the short term” but hopes to continue engaging.
A ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, Smith, who spoke to JNS about his vote earlier on Friday, said that AIPAC has “made some decisions that sort of pushed them in the direction of being too partisan Republican and too blindly in favor of whatever Israel does.”
“AIPAC should have an expanded idea of who their friends are these days,” he told JNS. “I just don’t think they can afford to be cutting people off every time they don’t take the right vote.”
He told JNS that he has spoken with AIPAC officials.
“I certainly am aware of the fact that they’re not going to be supporting me in the short term,” he said. “But I want to maintain the dialogue and the conversation, because I think they need to work harder to try to figure out how to get more friends instead of creating more enemies.”
Smith pointed to a New Jersey political race, in which AIPAC spent “a few million dollars” against Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) because “he wasn’t aggressively anti-Israel and they didn’t think he was a sufficient friend,” he said.
“A radical left-wing socialist wound up winning the seat,” Smith told JNS. “I talked to some AIPAC folks who said, ‘We’re fine with that. We’d rather have someone who’s clearly against us.’”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Smith said. “Not if you’re smart about it. In my view, I think AIPAC needs to reset.”
