As support for Israel plummets among U.S. voters, Democrats are distancing themselves from AIPAC, and the Israel lobby group is on the defensive.
Last week, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) announced that he will stop accepting political donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee(AIPAC) and will return all the money that he has received from the lobbying group thus far.
“In recent years, AIPAC has aligned itself too closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government,” said the Congress member in a statement. “I’m a friend of Israel, but not of its current government, and AIPAC’s mission today is to back that government. I don’t support that direction. That’s why I’ve decided to return the donations I’ve received, and I will not be accepting their support.”
“Rep. Moulton is abandoning his friends to grab a headline, capitulating to the extremes rather than standing on conviction,” said AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann in response to the move. “His statement comes after years of him repeatedly asking for our endorsement and is a clear message to AIPAC members in Massachusetts, and millions of pro-Israel Democrats nationwide, that he rejects their support and will not stand with them.”
Moulton, who is attempting to oust Ed Markey from his Senate seat, is certainly no dove. In 2022, the Marine veteran led a letter calling on then-President Biden to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization. When the Trump administration bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities earlier this year, he refrained from criticizing the action.
Moulton’s been a consistent supporter of Israel, not just abroad, but at home too. He voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act and other resolutions that conflate antisemitism with anti-Zionism, and he condemned his alma mater, Harvard University, over a student letter that blamed the October 7 attack on Israeli policies.
In short, Moulton is not the kind of Congress member one would expect to criticize an Israel lobby organization. Criticism of AIPAC generally emerges from the left flank of the Democratic Party, from lawmakers like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
However, that has changed in recent weeks. Moulton is the fourth politician to reject AIPAC money after previously accepting it, joining Reps. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), and Deborah Ross (D-NC). (more...)
AIPAC has become so politically toxic that even centrist Democrats are abandoning the group
I am returning AIPAC donations and refusing to accept any donations or support from them.
— Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) October 16, 2025
The FEC filing I made yesterday reflects that we are returning donations. pic.twitter.com/shBgHmYB1s
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