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#  Does AIPAC Own Your Representative?

April 02 2026

Written by J. George Mansour.

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OP-ED - The numbers are shocking. Since October 2023:

Jimmy Gomez (D CA-34) has received $1.6 million from the Israel lobby. At the same time, he voted to give Israel direct or indirect support of $30.2 billion, or approximately $39,456 for each of his constituents. By comparison, Mr. Gomez brought his district $139,000,000 in Federal spending, approximately $182 per constituent. Thus, Mr. Gomez voted to give Israel received more than 200 times more support than Mr. Gomez obtained for his constituents.

Brad Sherman (D CA-32) has received $350,000 from the Israeli lobby. During this time, Mr. Sherman voted to give Israel over $30.2 billion in direct and indirect aid, or approximately $32,676 for each of his constituents. During this period, Mr. Sherman secured approximately $33,600,000 in Federal spending for his district, or approximately $44 for each constituent in his district. In essence, Mr. Sherman voted to give almost 900 times more to Israel per constituent than he obtained for his constituents.

Now, the President has requested an additional $200 billion in war funds so that the United States can undertake a fight with Iran on behalf of Israel. Even worse, the United States appears to be preparing for a ground attack, despite Israeli refusal to send its troops into this extraordinary danger. Israel has made clear that it is willing to fight Iran until the death of the last American, but Israel is unwilling to see even one of its soldiers lose their life in a ground invasion for this Israeli war.

Israel has drawn the United States into a second, devastating war in the Middle East. This Israeli/US war of choice against Iran has already cost billions of taxpayer money, spiked oil prices, stoked inflations, and demonstrated US unreliability as an ally to Gulf countries, all while making the United States less safe. The war represents a grave betrayal by President Trump to have no more Middle East wars and to place the interests of the United States before foreign interests. Our representatives seem likely to fall in line with the instructions of the Israeli lobby and support this wasteful $200 billion expense.

Send a message to Mr. Gomez and Mr. Sherman: It is time to place US interests ahead of Israeli interests. The first step toward placing US interests ahead of Israeli interests is to refuse to take money from the Israeli lobby. We must demand that Mr. Gomez and Mr. Sherman refuse to accept AIPAC or other Israeli lobby money. It is time our representatives work for us, not Israel.

(By way of background, the $30.2 billion in aid is comprised of Emergency Supplemental (HR 8034) for $26.4 billion and Annual FY 24 Budget (HR 2882) for $3.8 billion. Donations from the Israel lobby are based on Federal Election Commission, OpenSecrets and Sludge, and include direct contributions from AIPAC PAC (often bundled from individual donors) and independent expenditures from AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project.)

*(J. George Mansour was born and raised in Missouri and has long been a student of political science and international relations. Mr. Mansour is now based in Austin Texas, where he remains an active investor in a variety of businesses.)*

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