The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is a pro-Israel lobbying organization which uses targeted propaganda and large political campaign donations to pressure US elected officials to support Israel and hawkish elements of the US national security state. AIPAC has a New England regional branch which is located in downtown Boston.
Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt write in a 2006 report on the Israel lobby:
AIPAC's success is due to its ability to reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its agenda, and to punish those who challenge it. ... AIPAC makes sure that its friends get strong financial support from the myriad pro-Israel PACs. Those seen as hostile to Israel, on the other hand, can be sure that AIPAC will direct campaign contributions to their political opponents. ... The bottom line is that AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress. Open debate about U.S. policy towards Israel does not occur there, even though that policy has important consequences for the entire world." Indeed, former AIPAC official Steven Rosen, once said to a sympathetic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, “You see this napkin? In 24 hours, we could have the signatures of 70 Senators on this napkin.
AIPAC's political positions which, as their former official boasted, AIPAC can force upon members of congress at will, are not only Zionist but also strictly aligned with the more hawkish elements of the US state and its global allies. At its 2020 annual conference, AIPAC hosted a line-up of speakers which included: then Vice President Mike Pence (who AIPAC described on the conference website as "The Honorable Mike Pence"), then United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ("The Honorable Michael R. Pompeo"), Former Canadian Prime Minister and Conservative Party member Stephen Harper ("The Right Honourable Stephen Harper"), Mr. Derek Maltz from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), as well as Massachusetts-based Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tomkins.
Also amongst the speakers at AIPAC's 2020 conference was Colombian President Ivan Duque ("His Excellency Iván Duque Márquez"). Over 400 human rights defenders have been assassinated by the Colombian military and right-wing para-military forces since 2016 alone, under the watch of Duque and his predecessor and mentor Alvaro Uribe. Moreover, Colombia's military has been exposed to have falsely labeled thousands of civilians it has assassinated over the years as guerilla combatants fallen in combat ("los falsos positivos"). Regionally, Colombia serves as a brutal enforcer and strategic outpost of US interests in Central and South America and the Caribbean, playing host to several US military bases and receiving billions of dollars in military aid from the United States over recent years alone. Indeed, Colombia's ties with US empire are so tight that Hugo Chavez, the former president of Colombia's neighbor Venezuela, once famously remarked, “Colombia is the Israel of Latin America.” AIPAC's choice to invite "His Excellency Iván Duque Márquez" as a speaker at AIPAC's 2020 conference lends proof to Chavez's claim. Duque's invitation to the conference, along with the invitation of other leading architects and enforcers of US empire and the US security state, speak to the fact that AIPAC understands Israel's interests to be functionally interconnected with the interests of the US government.
AIPAC New England frequently hosts pro-Israel events in Massachusetts. In 2018, AIPAC New England hosted an event entitled "Technology and Life Sciences Breakfast." AIPAC New England frequently described the breakfast as a "platform for New England’s most successful entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and innovators to keep Israel safe and secure," noting that the event was meant to encourage "investment in AIPAC, engagement in pro-Israel political efforts, networking, and educational opportunities for members of the tech and life sciences industries in a pro-Israel context." In 2016, AIPAC New England hosted the former director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) James Woolsey to present at their "4th Annual Real Estate Luncheon," an annual AIPAC event which brings together "pro-Israel real estate industry leaders" for "a robust networking session followed by a seated meal and program."
AIPAC is a member organization of the JCRC of Greater Boston.
AIPAC's national leadership (as of 2020) is as follows:
| Howard Kohr (CEO) |
| Richard Fishman (Co-CEO) |
| Arne Christenson (Managing Director, Policy & Politics) |
| Elliot Brandt (Managing Director Development) |
| Brian Shankman (Dir - Regional Affairs & Development) |
| Michael Sachs (Regional Director - Northeast) |
| Robert Bassin (Director - Political Affairs) |
| Marvin Feuer (Dir-Policy & Gov't Affairs) |
| Jeremy Rider (Director - Events and Creative) |
| Bennett Goldstein (Mng. Dir & CFO) |
| Samantha Margolis (Chief Administrative Officer) |
| Mary Rickey (Interim-Chief Financial Off) |
AIPAC New England's leadership (as of 2022) is as follows:
| Eric Giesser, New England Regional Director |
| Rick Redmond, New England Political Director |
| Jake Levine, New England Area Director |
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AIPAC is a member organization of the JCRC of Greater Boston.
AIPAC hosted Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tomkins as a speaker at AIPAC's 2020 annual conference.
AIPAC hosted Google Senior Policy Manager Rebecca Prozan as a speaker at AIPAC's 2020 annual conference.
Clark University Hillel subsidizes Clark students' attendance of Zionist conferences, such the AIPAC Policy Conference in 2020, which was attended by a delegation of Clark students.
In 2019, AIPAC New England hosted Facing History and Ourselves to present at an AIPAC event in North Chelmsford, MA entitled "Exploring Contemporary Anti-Semitism."
Chuck Freilich, faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfast Center, advocated on behalf of AIPAC in a 2015 op-ed entitled "AIPAC Had No Choice." In the op-ed, Freilich described AIPAC as "a magnificent creation of the American Jewish community and other supporters of Israel, and has become a vital component of the US-Israel relationship in its own right."
JewishBoston uses its online platform to promote AIPAC New England's events.
Jay Ruderman is the former Deputy Director of AIPIC New England. Following his stint as Deputy Director of AIPIC New England, Jay Ruderman spent three years in the Israeli army, after which he returned to AIPAC, working as the Leadership Director for AIPAC in Israel.