AIPAC affiliate funded US lawmakers’ luxury trips to occupied territories during Gaza genocide
The American-Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), an affiliate of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), spent millions of dollars on luxury trips to the Israeli-occupied territories for members of Congress and senior Capitol Hill staff during the genocide in Gaza.
Records from the House Ethics Committee show that AIEF has sponsored at least 15 congressional delegations involving 78 lawmakers and staff members from Democrats and Republicans.
Participants received all-expenses-paid trips that included stays at luxury hotels, meetings with senior Israeli officials, and briefings focused largely on Israel's so-called security concerns and regional policy.
The travels took place as Israel expanded its military offensives in Gaza and elsewhere in the region, drawing criticism from human rights organizations, international institutions, and a growing number of political figures in the United States.
According to congressional filings, lawmakers met with senior Israeli politicians, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and attended sessions with the regime's military commanders, military contractors, and settlers advocating for settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Several delegations also visited locations in the occupied West Bank, including settlements that the international community regards as illegal.
During several of the visits, Israeli military attacks were ongoing while aid organizations warned of severe shortages of food, medicine, and essential services for Palestinian civilians.
AIEF-sponsored travel continued into 2026, including in the period immediately preceding the US and Israeli military aggression against Iran.
One AIEF trip, scheduled for February 2026 and concluding less than a week before the initial attacks on Iran, included five Democratic staff members and seven Republicans.
AIEF is not the only organization sponsoring lawmakers’ travel to Israel. The Zionist group J Street has funded trips primarily for Democrats, while organizations such as the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) and the Atlantic Council have sponsored visits for members of both parties.
AIEF, however, has maintained a steady schedule of congressional trips to occupied Palestine despite growing international criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed approximately 72,938 Palestinians and wounded over 172,919, the majority of them women and children.
According to figures released by the Palestinian Health Ministry, 935 Palestinians have been killed and 2,860 injured since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025.
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