The recent letter to the editor “Does AIPAC really represent the U.S. Jewish community?” [Gazette, Jan 3] propagates the trope that Jews, represented by AIPAC, have an inordinate amount of power to impact President Joe Biden’s support of the Netanyahu regime’s war in Gaza. The letter ignores the fact that seven out of 10 Jews consistently vote democratic. In December 2021, AIPAC created a super PAC to donate to congressional candidates on the basis of their being pro-Israel, not necessarily pro-Jewish. They endorsed over 100 Republican Trump supporters in the 2022 election. 

Biden is not in danger of losing the Jewish vote because of AIPAC. AIPAC’s efforts to control election outcomes through its super PAC is used to fund political campaigns, just like the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony list, the National Rifle Association, and 25 supposedly LGBTQ+-friendly corporations who donated more than $10 million to anti-LGBTQ+ state and federal politicians between 1919 and 2021. 

Promoting a trope that Jews have the power to effect U.S. policy toward Israel is particularly dangerous since the Gaza war when antisemitism has become a threat to Jews everywhere. Jewish people have widely differing views about Israel and should not be implicated as the powerful saviors of “a half-million lives that hang in the balance,” as the letter put it. My letters to President Biden imploring him to support a cease-fire in Gaza do not mention AIPAC. I should not be called upon to disavow myself from an organization that does not represent my beliefs, just as I don’t disavow myself from the NRA when advocating against gun violence.

Sara Weinberger

Easthampton