Eric Schultz

Ant Edwards. President Barack Obama. It began at Team USA Training camp and turned into a game of one-on-one we didn’t know we needed.

Six up… Six down! A great night for the pro-Israel community and a terrible night for anti-Israel candidates. Tonight’s results tell a critical story: centering campaigns on attacking Israel and demonizing pro-Israel Americans is a losing strategy.

Let’s be clear what happened in Illinois’ 9th district tonight: AIPAC spent millions in a Democratic primary, funded in large part by Republican donors, trying to stamp out opposition to Netanyahu’s policies. But voters had other plans - and rejected that effort. AIPAC targeted Daniel Biss not because he’s anti-Israel, but because he represents the kind of balanced, pro-Israel leadership they fear: committed to Israel’s security, while also standing up for Palestinian rights and U.S. interests. They went after him and others because a growing Democratic Party consensus says support for Israel cannot be a blank check, and that U.S. aid must be consistent with our laws and our values. And they tried to hide their fingerprints because their direct involvement would only hurt. If there’s a lesson in tonight’s result, it’s this: you can’t rebuild support for Israel through fear, intimidation, and outside money. Those tactics are doing the opposite - accelerating the erosion of support, especially among younger voters who are already asking why the U.S. is backing policies that don’t reflect the values they were raised with.

And then what happened?

or AIPAC