How AIPAC channels millions through shell PACs ahead of US midterms

how the pro-Israel lobby group has relied on shell political action groups with deceptive names to defeat Israel critics.

Washington, DC – For many voters in Illinois, nothing appeared overtly suspicious in the 30-second election advertisement that aired in mid-March.

The video starts with a burst of cheerful music, and a narrator praises congressional candidate Bushra Amiwala as a fighter for “real economic justice” and “the real deal

But the video was not part of a genuine effort to get Amiwala elected to the United States House of Representatives. And the candidate quickly disavowed it.

Funding for the advertisement came from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has been pumping tens of millions of dollars into election campaigns in a push to sink candidates critical of Israel.

With the midterm primary season in full swing, advocates say AIPAC is placing its thumb on the scale in many congressional races. Its tactics, they argue, undermine election transparency.

“Every cycle, AIPAC shows just how broken our democracy is and how corrupt our political finance system is,” said Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson at Justice Democrats, a progressive group.

“Every cycle, they are at the forefront of exploiting those gaps for their right-wing

While the Chicago Progressive Partnership — the group whose name appeared on the Amiwala advertisement — was widely believed to be linked to AIPAC, it did not have to reveal the source of its funding until after the elections, which took place in March.

Now that the vote is over, Federal Election Commission receipts show that the sole funder of Chicago Progressive Partnership was Elect Chicago Women (ECW), another PAC. It contributed $1m to the partnership.

In turn, ECW had raised more than $4m from United Democracy Project (UDP), the election arm of AIPAC, and another $1m from investor Blair Frank, one of UDP’s largest donors.

AIPAC also contributed $1.3m to a third PAC, Affordable Chicago Now, in what critics call an effort to conceal its spending in Illinois.

Palestinian rights advocates say this use of “shell PACs” is evidence of how the pro-Israel group has become “toxic” among the US electorate. They argue AIPAC has taken a Russian doll approach — hiding its spending by funnelling funds from one PAC to another — to hide its involvement in primary races.

“They are so unpopular amongst the Democratic Party that they have to hide themselves,” Andrabi told Al Jazeera. “We have to keep exposing them and looking under every rock to see whether or not this shell PAC or that shell PAC is funded by AIPAC.”