Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has become the first member of Congress to sign a pledge to refuse campaign money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel groups.
Khanna, a progressive often mentioned as a potential 2028 presidential contender, announced the decision in a video in which he signed the document.
“It’s pretty common sense,” he said in the video posted on June 17. “It means that we shouldn’t be sending our tax-dollar money for foreign wars overseas. We should be spending it here at home.”
The pledge was created by Track AIPAC, a group that tracks pro-Israel political spending and publicizes lawmakers who accept it.
Known as the ‘PEACE Pledge’—short for Pledge to Enforce American law, Counter foreign influence, and End war crimes—it asks members of Congress to swear off contributions and bundled donations from AIPAC, the Democratic Majority for Israel, the Republican Jewish Coalition, Christians United for Israel, and their affiliated political action committees.
Signers also commit to support legislation recognizing what the pledge calls a genocide by Israel in Gaza, to oppose U.S. military aid to any country whose forces they conclude are committing rights violations, and to make overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision a legislative priority, according to the text posted on the group’s website.
In his video, Khanna said the pledge means lawmakers “have to recognize the genocide that took place in Gaza.” He added, “So I’m going to be signing this pledge, and I hope others will follow.”
Israel rejects accusations of genocide, saying its campaign targets Hamas and not Palestinian civilians, and the U.S. government has likewise rejected the characterization across the former Biden administration and current Trump administration.
AIPAC, which backs pro-Israel candidates in both parties, contributed about $51.8 million to candidates during the 2024 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.
Khanna’s signature comes as Democrats in particular remain divided over Israel and pro-Israel spending. A Pew Research Center survey published in April found that 80 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents held an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 69 percent a year earlier and 53 percent in 2022.
At the Democratic National Committee’s spring meeting in New Orleans in April, the party’s resolutions committee voted down a measure that would have named AIPAC as a source of corrosive outside spending in Democratic primaries.
Khanna criticized that outcome.
“Anyone who wants to lead this party must condemn and reject AIPAC money,” he wrote on X.
Track AIPAC has urged voters to press their representatives to sign, saying on its website that simply rejecting AIPAC money “is not enough.” Khanna is so far the only member of Congress to have done so.
AIPAC and Track AIPAC did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment on Friday.
