Pro-Israel America (Pro-Israel America PAC) is an American advocacy and lobbying group that supports pro-Israel policies. It serves as a channel for donations between members and endorsed candidates, which includes incumbent Members of Congress or challengers regardless of political affiliation. It is closely affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and has a bipartisan history of endorsements.[1]
History
Pro-Israel America was founded by Jeff Mendelsohn and Jonathan Missner in March 2019 and unveiled at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee 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 support and small dollar donations for pro-Israel political candidates.[2]
"Creating a group like Pro-Israel America represents a huge strategic shift for AIPAC. For years, AIPAC has been able to publicly put distance between itself and the large sums of money that pro-Israel donors marshal on behalf of preferred candidates. By supporting new groups like Pro-Israel America...and giving them prime placement at its flagship conference — AIPAC is publicly linking itself to the kind of election cycle work it has long kept at arm’s length."[3]
Pro-Israel America raised $400,000 for Ilhan Omar's primary challenger, Antone Melton-Meaux. Omar won 58-38%.[6] By July, the group had raised $2 million, amassed 150,000 members, and endorsed 52 candidates; 21 Republicans and 31 Democrats.[7]
In a post-election impact report, Pro-Israel America reported that endorsed candidates had a 95% victory rate.[8] According to OpenSecrets, 53% of contributions went to Democrats and 46% went to Republicans.[9]
