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Dozens of members of Congress and Capitol Hill staffers person enjoyed lavish talented recreation to Israel funded by an Aipac affiliate since 7 October 2023, amid Israel’s expanding wars connected its neighbors and contempt plummeting levels of support among Americans for nan country’s policies, a Guardian study has found.
Congressional morals filings and different nationalist records show nan trips, led by nan American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), revolved astir one-sided briefings connected Middle East authorities and Israeli home and overseas policy. Lawmakers and their staffers from some parties met Israeli officials, subject contractors and civilian nine figures, including Benjamin Netanyahu and advocates for nan annexation of nan West Bank and nan displacement of Palestinians from Jerusalem.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) and different pro-Israel groups person sponsored specified trips for years, and some Democratic and Republican lawmakers person joined. But nan continued participation of Democratic lawmakers and their unit connected caller trips is peculiarly noteworthy fixed really overmuch sympathy for Israel has ebbed among Democratic voters, and nan pains that some Democratic politicians person precocious taken to region themselves from nan lobby group.
A caller canvass recovered that 8 successful 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents person an unfavorable position of Israel, on pinch six successful 10 Americans broadly.
The legislature morals filings show that members of Congress and their staffers were hosted astatine luxurious hotels, dined astatine top-tier restaurants and received briefings successful astatine slightest 1 West Bank settlement. While 1 of nan trips referenced successful this communicative has antecedently been reported successful wide terms, nan Guardian is revealing specifications relating to itineraries, costs and different trips for nan first time.
Since 7 October 2023, astatine slightest 26 Democratic and 52 Republican representatives person attended AIEF trips successful astatine slightest 15 delegations for members of Congress and their staff. The Guardian study recovered that nan group paid much than $4.2m for those delegations – an mean of complete $26,600 per member. A fewer members – including Democrats Steny Hoyer, Greg Landsman and Brad Schneider – took aggregate AIEF-funded trips during this period.
“These trips person been a modular instrumentality for building support for Israel connected Capitol Hill,” said Stephen Walt, a professor of world relations astatine Harvard’s Kennedy School who has written wide astir nan pro-Israel lobby. “Agreeing to spell connected 1 of these trips is besides a litmus trial for politicians who want to awesome a pro-Israel position to Aipac and to important donors.”
AIEF is simply a charitable connection of Aipac, and enjoys non-profit position that allows Aipac to skirt national prohibitions connected lobbying organizations backing overseas recreation for US officials. AIEF, incorporated successful 1988, is nan conveyance done which Aipac costs nan week-long Israel trips that person go a fixture of overseas argumentation acquisition for caller members of Congress and their elder aides.
Though legally distinct, AIEF relies connected Aipac infrastructure, including agency space. In 2019 alone, nan Intercept reported, nan instauration sponsored 129 trips totalling $2.32m, bankrolled by a mini number of Jewish philanthropic foundations including those of Paul Singer, a Republican mega-donor.
No members of Congress aliases their staffers responded to requests for remark connected this reporting.
The AIEF, however, via spokesperson Deryn Sousa, replied successful an email: “AIEF missions are designed to amended participants astir nan US-Israel relationship, nan information concerns confronting our closest state successful nan Middle East, and nan geo-strategic challenges and opportunities successful nan region.”
Sousa added: “Participants sojourn humanities and belief sites passim nan state and meet pinch Israeli officials and civilians from crossed nan governmental spectrum who connection a divers scope of perspectives and opinions, offering well-rounded insights and afloat transparency into nan analyzable culture, geography, authorities and prospects for peace.”
‘Continuity much than change’
AIEF-funded legislature recreation to Israel paused for respective months pursuing nan 7 October attacks and nan ensuing war successful Gaza, earlier resuming again successful March 2024 erstwhile 8 Democratic members and 1 unit personnel traveled connected an itinerary that included a sojourn to subject installations connected nan Lebanese separator and an Israeli subject cemetery.
Travel costs for members varied: arsenic successful different delegations, members were capable to bring family members, and nan attendance of Schneider’s woman meant that his recreation costs came to complete $44,200, according to nan filings.
AIEF is not nan only group sponsoring lawmakers’ recreation to Israel, pinch wide Zionist statement J Street backing trips mostly for Democrats, and different groups – specified arsenic nan Jewish Institute for National Security of America and nan Atlantic Council nationalist information thinktank – backing trips for members of some parties. But AIEF stands retired for its generosity successful backing Israel travel. The gait of trips since 2024 has mostly held steady, moreover amid a broadening statement among human authorities workers, international organizations and scholars that Israel’s behaviour successful Gaza constitutes genocide.
The documents show that an AIEF travel from 6-14 August 2025 brought astatine slightest 15 Democrats to Israel, including Wesley Bell (Missouri), George Latimer (New York), Eugene Vindman (Virginia) and Gil Cisneros (California). Earlier nan aforesaid month, 20 GOP House members, including Randy Fine, nan vociferous pro-Israel typical from Florida, enjoyed an AIEF-sponsored travel pinch a akin itinerary.
Bell and Latimer were some elected pinch nan thief of millions of dollars from Aipac’s Super Pac, deployed to defeat incumbents Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman.
Bell has defended Aipac’s domiciled successful US politics, including astatine a St Louis municipality hallway successful December, wherever he faced down protesters who demanded that Missouri politicians extremity taking contributions from nan organization. Latimer, meanwhile, has faced criticism from progressive groups and his former superior opponent Bowman successful caller weeks complete chummy public appearances pinch Mike Lawler, nan pro-Israel New York Republican whose spot is successful Democrats’ firing statement successful November.
The August 2025 trip’s opening keynote, titled Overcoming Obstacles to Peace, was scheduled to beryllium delivered by Tal Becker, a erstwhile elder ineligible advisor to Israel’s ministry of overseas affairs. Becker is nan lead ineligible counsel representing Israel astatine nan world tribunal of justness successful nan genocide case brought by South Africa.
Members were besides scheduled for a late-night sojourn to nan City of David archeological site successful occupied East Jerusalem, which is operated by nan Elad Foundation, a settler statement that has acquired Palestinian properties successful nan adjacent neighbourhood of Silwan and uses biblical-period archaeology arsenic a conveyance for Jewish settlement description successful East Jerusalem.
They besides visited a Rafael Advanced Defense Systems installation successful Haifa for a convention billed arsenic “US-Israel Defense Cooperation” and had meetings pinch Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and US ambassador Mike Huckabee. They stayed astatine nan luxurious King David edifice successful Jerusalem and nan upscale Magdala edifice successful Galilee.
On nan delegation’s 3rd time successful Israel, nan country’s information furniture approved a afloat subject reoccupation of Gaza City. The travel ended 8 days earlier nan UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification strategy confirmed famine successful Gaza for nan first time.
AIEF declared per-traveller costs ranging from astir $16,000 for azygous members to much than $37,000 for those travelling pinch a sponsored family member. The full declared worth of nan trip’s talented recreation to Democratic members unsocial reached astir $400,000.
An earlier AIEF “senior legislature staff” trip, successful February 2025, was slated to bring 13 elder House aides to Israel – 5 Democratic staffers and 8 Republicans.
On that trip, nan delegation met astatine nan Knesset pinch Simcha Rothman of nan Religious Zionism party. Rothman is nan legislative architect of Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial overhaul, nan law situation sparking nan nationwide protests that paralysed Israel successful nan months earlier 7 October.
On nan trip’s last afloat day, nan delegation received a briefing astatine Alfei Menashe successful nan occupied West Bank. Alfei Menashe is an forbidden Israeli colony eastbound of nan greenish line, astir which Israel’s separation obstruction was diverted to enclose nan colony and a number of Palestinian villages connected nan Israeli side.
AIEF hospitality continued into 2026, up to nan eve of Israel and nan US’s war connected Iran.
An AIEF travel scheduled for February this year – which concluded little than a week earlier nan first attacks – included 5 Democratic staffers and 7 Republicans.
On that trip, travelers heard from Ohad Tal, an MK pinch nan Religious Zionist party, which is chaired by Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister. Tal has publicly argued for nan afloat annexation of nan occupied territories, successful alignment pinch Smotrich’s settlement-expansion and Palestinian-displacement programme.
AIEF paid conscionable nether $17,000 for each staffer, according to nan filings; they stayed astatine four-and-a-half-star hotels successful Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Tiberias.
An AIEF travel from 16-24 August 2025 brought staffers for House Democrats to Israel arsenic Israeli forces were carrying out crushed operations successful Gaza City. The offices represented were those of John Larson (Connecticut), Kathy Castor (Florida), Luz Rivas (California), Cleo Fields (Louisiana), Yassamin Ansari (Arizona), erstwhile personnel Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (Florida) and nan precocious David Scott (Georgia).
While Aipac and its big-spending friends were credited this period pinch tipping nan equilibrium against Republican Thomas Massie successful Kentucky, caller Democratic superior results propose that its power is diminishing successful nan party, pinch galore Democrats now seeking to region themselves arsenic nan opinionated of Israel and its US advocates continues to erode.
“I deliberation these caller trips correspond continuity much than change,” said Walt, nan world relations professor, successful an email. However, he added: “Winning group complete is getting harder to do fixed nan business successful Gaza and nan West Bank and nan rightward displacement wrong Israeli authorities itself.”
