For Israel and the United States, yes.

Has been for quite awhile now.

I started to reply "Only if the pro-Hamas wing of the left throws America under the bus."

But perhaps I mis-read where you are going with this.

AIPAC is a fact of life in American political campaigns. As is big money generally.

We may need to educate some uninformed "idealists" about the facts of life, but we should be doing that anyway.

Someone asks one of the lobbyists who he wants to win the election. He replies,"It doesn't matter to me, I've got money on both side."

I would suspect this is the rule, rather than the exception.

Furthermore, all but $10k of that amount you cited was from INDIVIDUALS (AIPAC claims to have over five million members) -- not AIPAC's actual PAC.

If some think Jeffries can be bought off for $867k, surely they can $27 grassroots donations it up to buy him, yes?

In its infinite wisdom has ruled that money is protected free speech, and corporations are people.

Who am I to argue with the finest legal minds in the land?

...every politician is completely beholden to those they receive money from.

What Jeffries receives from the AIPAC PAC is miniscule. What he receives from its individual members -- many of which are his constituents, I'm sure -- is still just a small portion (less than 5%) of his total campaign contributions.

Fact of the matter is that Jeffries represents one of the most Jewish districts in the nation. Often he is going to vote for pro-Jewish measures because of this. You could take away every single dollar tied back to AIPAC and I doubt many -- if any -- of his positions would change because ultimately he is beholden to his VOTERS.

Does it bother me that Dem politicians take AIPAC money...yes! It bothers me when they take Pharma money or Crypto money or Hedge Fund money. Political contributions are bribery.