In 2021, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee formed a separate organization for raising funds to donate to political campaigns. It is now pouring money into congressional primary races for both parties, hoping to unseat or to keep out of office anti-Israel candidates such as New York’s Jamaal Bowman. Josh Kraushaar analyzes the group’s tactics, which he terms “disciplined to a fault” in focusing on races it can win:

Along with other GOP outside groups, [AIPAC] spent over $1 million to secure a victory for the center-right representative Tony Gonzales (R-TX) as he faced a serious challenge from a right-wing candidate with a history of anti-Semitic rhetoric. They helped prevent the former Republican congressman John Hostettler, who wrote a book blaming Israel for U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, from returning to Congress. They helped a liberal Maryland state senator, Sarah Elfreth, with a record of support for Israel, prevail in a crowded [Democratic] primary, including against a candidate backed by national liberal donors.

Kraushaar notes that AIPAC’s influence has a salutary effect on American politics:

One of the great ironies about the progressive activists’ rhetoric against AIPAC is that it caricatures the group as a handmaiden of right-wing Republicans—even as the group has been mainly engaged on behalf of moderate Democrats and, overall, been a force against extremism on all sides. It’s a sign of the abuse of language—and overall bias in coverage—that a sinister narrative of AIPAC’s deep resources has overwhelmed the reality that they’re the biggest outside force for moderation in politics right now.

In that sense, AIPAC’s involvement in congressional elections is doing as much to improve the health of America’s democracy as it is to ensure the future of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.

In a sense, this should not be a great surprise. Since the terms left and right came to have political meaning, it is the extremes of both that have gravitated most toward anti-Semitism.

While Hamas’s leaders continue to reject the U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, they have hardly been neglecting diplomacy. Ehud Yaari explains:

Over the past few weeks, Hamas leaders have been engaged in talks with other Palestinian factions and select Arab states to find a formula for postwar governance in the Gaza Strip. Held mainly in Qatar and Egypt, the negotiations have not matured into a clear plan so far, but some forms of cooperation are emerging on the ground in parts of the embattled enclave.

Hamas officials have informed their interlocutors that they are willing to support the formation of either a “technocratic government” or one composed of factions that agree to Palestinian “reconciliation.” They have also insisted that security issues not be part of this government’s authority. In other words, Hamas is happy to let others shoulder civil responsibilities while it focuses on rebuilding its armed networks behind the scenes.

Among the possibilities Hamas is investigating is integration into the Palestinian Authority (PA), the very body that many experts in Israel and in the U.S. believe should take over Gaza after the war ends. The PA president Mahmoud Abbas has so far resisted any such proposals, but some of his comrades in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are less certain:

On June 12, several ex-PLO and PA officials held an unprecedented meeting in Ramallah and signed an initiative calling for the inclusion of additional factions, meaning Hamas. The PA security services had blocked previous attempts to arrange such meetings in the West Bank. . . . Hamas has already convinced certain smaller PLO factions to get on board with its postwar model.

With generous help from Qatar, Hamas also started a campaign in March asking unaffiliated Palestinian activists from Arab countries and the diaspora to press for a collaborative Hamas role in postwar Gaza. Their main idea for promoting this plan is to convene a “Palestinian National Congress” with hundreds of delegates. Preparatory meetings have already been held in Britain, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Qatar, and more are planned for the United States, Spain, Belgium, Australia, and France.

If the U.S. and other Western countries are serious about wishing to see Hamas defeated, and all the more so if they have any hopes for peace, they will have to convey to all involved that any association with the terrorist group will trigger ostracization and sanctions. That Hamas doesn’t already appear toxic to these various interlocutors is itself a sign of a serious failure.