>>24619432
>The difference is their tactics and organization; they do not focus on partisanship
That's true. I'd add that Bibi being very close to Trump has also been a problem for AIPAC in a way. There are a lot of Democrats in Congress who support Israel, but that doesn't work as well when Bibi hugs the Republicans like he does. When Obama was president, the Republicans brought Bibi to Congress where he criticized U.S. policy, which obviously didn't go over well with the White House.

>So their strength doesn't really come from the fact that they're some elaborate, massive conspiracy; but rather that they are simply a highly motivated, well-funded traditional ethnic pressure group
I think this is accurate. Like the Tammany Hall comparison. It's worth reading how AIPAC actually works with members of Congress. They're like "let's have a meeting" and send their guy, the rep gives their positions, and AIPAC has their own checklist, and if the rep gets a good score, they can communicate that to the broader donor network. AIPAC itself gives relatively little money (I think), it's other organizations that are part of its umbrella. It's not a "PAC" (political action committee), the "PAC" stands for "public affairs committee" which doesn't sound important but these are legal technicalities. They do fight for their agenda very hard, but they are also risk-averse, they like to support incumbents, and don't like to intervene in primary challenges unless they have a good shot. They have had some successes recently helping fund primary challenges to two Democrats (Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman). They do make mistakes from time to time though, but they don't like to lose. Another interesting thing they do is not making Israel the main issue when they try to primary someone. If you see attack ads for the "United Democracy Project," that's actually AIPAC, but they won't talk about Israel. If they like a Democrat, they'll just say they're a good Democrat. If they don't like a Democrat, they'll say they weren't loyal to Biden or whatever. This is AIPAC actually:
https://youtu.be/kLMNVOIRkmI

>>24621084
>In his most recent appearance on Judge Napolitano he came very close to saying "it's the Jews" or "this is just how Jews behave" rather than the usual "the Zionist lobby."
Well, they love beating the system. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"

>>24621946
>he emphasizes that American Jews are often completely out of step with hardline Zionists and even most Israelis regarding Israel and the Middle East ... Most American Jews see themselves as leftist/liberal first, Americans second, and Jews third; with "Jew" largely being a cultural identifier
There are some big cultural differences between Israelis and American Jews. There's a lot of chud-style nationalism in Israel like this:
https://youtu.be/ha-8LO0seaM
https://youtu.be/cjL0VI2UmMY

Very different historical experiences. Most American Jews are descended from Jews who immigrated to the U.S. before WWII.