AIPAC success is due in large part to its ability to reward legislators who support its agenda and punish those who do not. This is based mainly on its capacity to influence campaign contributions. Money is critical to US elections. AIPAC makes sure that its friends get financial support so long as they dont stray from AIPAC line.

Many of the same individuals who bankroll AIPAC are often important political contributors in their own right. Journalist Michael Massing used data from Federal Election Commission. He found that between 1997 and 2001 the 46 members of AIPAC board of directors gave well in excess of $3 million in campaign contributions. Many of them remain generous donors to pro-Israel PACs and candidates today. Washington Post reported in 2004 that since 2000 AIPAC board members have contributed an average of $72,000 each to campaigns and political committees.

AIPAC helps connect political candidates to other donors and sources of funds. Despite its name AIPAC is not a political action committee. It does not officially endorse candidates or give money directly to their campaigns. Instead AIPAC screens potential candidates and arranges meetings with potential donors and fund-raisers. It provides information to growing number of pro-Israel PACs.

Historian David Biale said the American Jewish Israel lobby has developed since Six Day War into one of most sophisticated and effective lobbying organizations in US Congress. It has done so in part by developing a national network of Jewish Political Action Committees. These PACs contribute funds to congressional candidates based on criterion of support for Israel.

AIPAC President Howard Friedman told members in August 2006: "AIPAC meets with every candidate running for Congress. These candidates receive in-depth briefings to help them completely understand the complexities of Israel predicament and that of the Middle East as a whole. We even ask each candidate to author a position paper on their views of the U.S.-Israel relationship—so it is clear where they stand on the subject."

Center for Responsive Politics is a nonpartisan research group that tracks campaign contributions. It identified roughly three dozen pro-Israel PACs active in recent elections. In 2006 midterms these groups gave more than $3 million to candidates from both parties. Between 1990 and 2004 reports the Economist pro-Israel groups contributed nearly $57 million to candidates and parties. Arab-American and Muslim PACs contributed slightly less than $800,000.

Steven Weiss of Center for Responsive Politics said: "If you are a candidate and you get the pro-Israel label from AIPAC, the money will start coming in from contributors all over the country."

Source: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy