Pappas, Sullivan Under Fire For Taking AIPAC, Pro-Israel Campaign Cash

By Leonard Robinson, NH Journal

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has won New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary twice, says “no Democrat should accept money from AIPAC.”

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), at the top of the latest FITN 2028 poll, is campaigning against Democrats across the country who accept AIPAC cash.

And the nation’s most prominent progressive, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has called AIPAC “monsters.”

Now Granite State progressives are hitting fellow Democrats U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas and Maura Sullivan for accepting money from AIPAC and affiliated pro-Israel organizations. In the process, they are fanning the flames of anti-Israel — some say antisemitic– sentiments within their own party.

Pappas, who is running for U.S. Senate, has received about $689,000 in direct and earmarked contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and affiliated groups over his federal political career, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings. His total support from the broader network of pro-Israel political organizations exceeds $823,000, including $23,000 from NORPAC.

“He has taken $3 million from AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbies. In return, he has approved billions of dollars of weapons transfers to Israel to fuel a genocide,” Pappas’ opponent Dr. Karishma Manzur told the NHJournal podcast.

NORPAC, which describes itself as “the most active grassroots political action committee supporting the critically important U.S.-Israel relationship,” also gave $20,000 to Sullivan, a Democrat running in the NH-01 primary. That is part of more than $40,000 in support she has received from pro-Israel political organizations, though none of it came directly from AIPAC.

NORPAC arranges fundraisers and bundles the money raised into contributions for pro-Israel Democrats and Republicans seeking federal office. The New Jersey-based political action committee arranged fundraisers for both candidates in the New York City suburbs.

Sullivan has also been endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel, though as of late Thursday, there was no mention of it on her campaign website — a fact noted by Christian Urrutia, a fellow Democratic candidate in the 1st Congressional District.

“Maura Sullivan sought and secured DMFI’s endorsement, used it to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from pro-Israel donors, and benefited from fundraisers hosted by other pro-Israel groups, like NORPAC,” Urrutia said.

Sullivan is one of only two Democrats in the 1st District primary who have not publicly said they support a ban on all U.S. military aid to Israel. The other is Stefany Shaheen.

“Now she refuses to say where she stands because a straight answer could alienate either powerful interests or Democratic voters,” Urrutia said.

“No AIPAC money. No DMFI money. Not now. Not ever,” Urrutia said. “Call it what it is: genocide in Gaza. Stop the weapons. Stop sending taxpayer dollars to fund it.”

Manzur is taking a similar approach.

“AIPAC is raising money to buy our campaign candidates, our lawmakers from both parties, and their job is to approve billions of dollars of weapons transferred using our money to a foreign government,” Manzur said on the NHJournal podcast.

“They’re committing genocide, and they’re attacking their neighbors all the time,” Manzur added.

Pappas’ past support from AIPAC includes more than $200,000 during his 2024 reelection campaign.

Three years later, Pappas — who in 2023 released a statement lauding the “ironclad” U.S.-Israel relationship — voted present rather than take a position on the ban on aid to Israel.

During a May 13 candidate forum in Manchester, Shaheen and Sullivan were the only candidates who did not directly describe Israel’s actions as genocide or argue that the International Criminal Court should try Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Three other candidates — Urrutia, Harvard University lecturer Carleigh Beriont, and state Rep. Heath Howard (D-Strafford) — accused Israel of committing genocide in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Sarah Chadzynski, the only Jewish candidate in the race, argued that the International Criminal Court should prosecute Netanyahu for war crimes.

Foreign policy rarely drives a New Hampshire congressional primary. Supporters of Israel say the underlying issue is that it is the world’s only Jewish state, and that antisemitic animus is part of the opposition.

“Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, a pluralistic society that is the national homeland of the Jewish people and the shared home of millions of citizens who are Muslim, Christian, Druze, Samaritan, Baha’i, and everything in between,” said Benjamin Sharoni, consul general of Israel to New England.

“The claim that Israel alone among the nations should not exist is not criticism of a policy, but a targeted attempt to deny our nation the fundamental rights held to be self-evident for all others.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.