Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — who has broken with her party and criticized Israel for its mass starvation of Gaza — railed against its lobbying arm, AIPAC, for its power over Congress in a conversation with Megyn Kelly.
“Israel is the only country I know of that has some sort of incredible influence and control over nearly every single one of my colleagues,” the Georgia Republican said on Kelly’s podcast in an episode that published Tuesday night. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
Greene, whose politics are far right, in recent weeks has openly criticized Israel and the United States continuing to send Israel aid, which critics allege it’s used to fund a genocide on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Her position, including openly calling Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide, has been more aligned with the views of progressive Democrats like the members of “The Squad.” But the shift comes as more Americans are souring on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza — 32% back Israel’s military action in the enclave, per a July Gallup poll, a drop of 18 percentage points since November 2023 — and as images of children starving in Gaza have drawn condemnation online.
Greene argued to Kelly that AIPAC has a hold on Democrats and Republicans, in order to get them to continue sending Israel aid, and does so by sending them on a trip to Israel when they first enter Congress.
“AIPAC takes every single — that they can — freshman member of Congress, their first year in Congress they take them on a very special trip to Israel,” Greene said. “I guess they go on tours all around. I didn’t go, so I don’t know what they do there. But they take them on tours.”
“AIPAC takes influencers, they take really big people like you, they want you to come over there. They want to pull you in because they want to pull you on their side,” Greene said to Kelly. “And why is that? Okay, for members of Congress, every single year, annually, Israel receives … $3.8 billion in funding.”
“We’re $37 trillion in debt; Israel is less than $400 billion in debt,” Greene continued. “If you’re an Israeli citizen, you have government-funded health care and you have government-funded college. So, why is America having to give Israel $3.8 billion?”
