TINLEY PARK, Ill.—The Israel lobby, “a tail that wags the dog,” is losing its ability to control the Palestine-Israel narrative because of the genocidal acts in Gaza and the Occupier state’s incursions on the West Bank and other countries, speakers at a forum on “The Israel Lobby” told an audience Nov. 28 at the Tinley Park Convention Center on the outskirts of Chicago.
The forum was part of the 18th annual convention of the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a three-day event under the theme “Beyond Survival: Resisting Genocide.” Several thousand people—Muslims, Christians, Jews, politicians and activists—attended.
Moderator Ayah Ziyadeh introduced the panel, which included former Congressmembers Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), saying the Israel lobby has functioned like an “untouchable force,” operating with impunity over the Democrat and Republican parties. But the chokehold is loosening, she said.
Panelist Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid, AMP’s executive director and chairman of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations, said the Israel lobby is weakening because it is “being challenged and they’re not used to it. They’re panicking because they have lost the majority of the American people for the first time in history.”
The lobby, under the banner the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), pulls America in to fight Israel’s wars and causes the U.S. government to “infringe on the hardcore values” of the U.S. Constitution that include speech, assembly and academic freedoms, he said.
Attempts to paint their critics with the label of anti-Semitism “is backfiring,” and their critics are coming from liberals and conservatives, Dr. Abu Irshaid commented.
Organizations that are allied with AIPAC include the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Zionist Organization of America, the American Jewish Committee, among others.
A recent Pew Research Center poll shows 39% of those polled say Israel’s genocidal military efforts go too far against Hamas, up from 31% in 2024. Nearly 60% now hold an “unfavorable opinion” of the Israeli government, up from 51% in 2024.
The election of Zohram Mamdani, a Muslim and a Democratic Socialist, as mayor of New York, despite millions of dollars of pro-Israel PAC money spent to defeat him, shows a pendulum shift in the American electorate, panelists said.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has consistently warned of lobby’s oversized influence on the U.S. Congress, saying they are “afraid to speak out against the warmongering of Israel.”
“And with control of your members of Congress through their AIPACs: Multi-national corporations run the show!” he said during a May 27, 2012, message at the San Diego Convention Center. “So, what happened to ‘democracy’ that you are trying to get it all over the world, and are losing it at home?” Minister Farrakhan said.
Former representative Cori Bush was ousted by an AIPAC candidate in 2024 in one of the country’s most expensive primary races. She was part of a progressive group of Congress members called “The Squad” that include such members as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), all outspoken on pro-Palestine views. Ms. Bush is running in 2026 to reclaim the seat.
“I was surprised when I lost,” she said. “I felt that good was going to win. I was standing for peace, for humanity. It didn’t happen.”
The former legislator said that candidates are now pledging not to take AIPAC money. But the American people must call for PAC money to be totally taken out of politics, she added.
Her AIPAC-funded opponent attacked her on a message of being “disloyal” to former President Joe Biden, which she said is not true. They didn’t say anything about Israel or Gaza one time “because they knew they couldn’t win on their own message,” she said.
“They thought they buried me; they thought they kicked me down to the dirt,” she concluded. “They didn’t realize I already been to the dirt. We get knocked down; we get back up. All they did was give me more fire.”
Jamaal Bowman, another member of “The Squad,” was targeted not only for his pro-Palestine stance, but also because he defended a Black Lives mural in his district that contained the image of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
Because he did not succumb to the “Farrakhan litmus test” launched against him by the pro-Israel lobby, a candidate received significant AIPAC funding to help defeat Mr. Bowman.
“There’s been a paradigm shift on how the American people view the (Palestine) issue,” he said. AIPAC doesn’t have the moral, political or intellectual high ground because the average American doesn’t want “our tax dollars going to another country to commit genocide.”
“The momentum is moving in our direction. We must be clear on how we organize our resources to win elections,” he said.
“I didn’t realize how much power the Zionist lobby has in Ohio,” said panelist Munira Abdulahi, a Muslim state representative from Ohio in her second term. “They have the money, but we have the people. We break down their power by going to the people.”