The pro-Israel lobby donated around $95,000 to Johnson after he led the House passage of an extra $14 billion for Israel.

THE AMERICAN ISRAEL Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, donated around $95,000 to Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., in November, according to The Intercept’s analysis of Federal Election Commission recordsOpens in a new tab. The pro-Israel lobbying group was Johnson’s top donor in 2023, pouring money into his campaign coffers just after he led the passage of a $14 billion aid package to Israel.

AIPAC’s political action committee donated a total of $104,000 to Johnson last year, with the majority of payments coming since the start of the Gaza war and after Johnson was elected House Speaker in late October. That’s more than four times the roughly $25,000 the group donated to his last congressional campaign, when it was also his top donor, as The Intercept previously reported.

AIPAC is a major powerbroker on Capitol Hill, where it gives money to lawmakers from both major political parties in order to preserve or enhance pro-Israel policies. In recent years, the group has become a more partisan actor, training its sights on Democratic critics of Israel. It has recruited primary challengers to progressive members of Congress and launched a super PAC, the United Democracy Project through which it has spent millions of dollars to help defeat Democratic candidates who express concern or support for the people of Palestine in any way.

James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, said that the group’s campaign contributions have two purposes: to “reward candidates who vote their way” and as “a cudgel that is used to keep people in line,” citing AIPAC’s past attack ads against Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Stephen Walt, the co-author of “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” told The Intercept that U.S. policy toward the Middle East is the foreign policy issue on which lobbyist groups have the most influence. “In terms of foreign policy, this is probably the one issue where money in politics has had the greatest negative effect,” said Walt, a professor of international relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.

AIPAC and Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.

Johnson, a steadfast supporter of Israel, started off his speakership by telling the Republican Jewish Coalition’s conference in Las Vegas that “God is not done with America yet, and I know he’s not done with Israel.”

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