Pastime | Episode
Pastime

Israel, AIPAC and Difficult Questions for Democrats

The Daily | Jul 29 2026 | 00:39:30

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group known as AIPAC, has spent a record amount of money in this year’s midterm elections to either oust or support candidates based on their support of Israel.

Jonathan Mahler, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, discusses the new litmus test for the left at a time when the United States’ relationship with Israel is under scrutiny.

Guest: Jonathan Mahler, a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine covering a wide range of topics, including politics, entertainment, education, media, the law and sports.

Background reading: 

Photo: Cheriss May/Sipa, via Associated Press Images

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.