AIPAC traditional tactics to influence Congress also enable the lobby to put pressure on the executive branch. This happens when the executive takes actions considered not in Israel interest.

When that happens the president or cabinet official is likely to get a hard-hitting letter from one or both houses of Congress. The letter is signed by most of its members.

President Gerald Ford got such a letter in 1975 when he threatened a reassessment of US-Israeli relations. President Bush got a similar letter in April 2002 when he briefly sought to pressure Israel to end a large-scale military incursion in the Occupied Territories. The lopsided percentage of signatories for each of these letters is eloquent testimony to AIPAC ability to twist arms.

Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) commented after signing the letter to Ford in 1975: "It is easier to sign one letter than to answer 5000." Senator John Culver (D-IA) later admitted: "The pressure was just too great. I caved."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice felt the same pressure. She sought to restart the peace process by visiting the Middle East in March 2007. Just before her departure Rice received an AIPAC-sponsored letter signed by seventy-nine senators. The letter urged her to avoid contact with the new Palestinian unity government until it recognized Israel, renounced terror, and agreed to abide by Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger once told AIPAC Tom Dine: "Dine, I deal with you because you could hurt me."

AIPAC bills itself as America Pro-Israel Lobby. It has an almost unchallenged hold on Congress. One of the three main branches of the American government is firmly committed to supporting Israel. Open debate about US policy toward Israel does not occur there even though that policy has important consequences for the entire world.

Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC) noted as he was leaving office in 2004: "You cant have an Israeli policy other than what AIPAC gives you around here." Another senator speaking on condition of anonymity told a Washington Post reporter in 1991: "My colleagues think AIPAC is a very, very powerful organization that is ruthless, and very, very alert. Eighty percent of the senators here roll their eyes on some of the votes. They know that what they are doing isnt what they really believe is right, but why fight on a situation where they are liable to get beat up on?"

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon once told an American audience: "When people ask me how they can help Israel, I tell them—Help AIPAC." His successor Ehud Olmert agrees remarking: "Thank God we have AIPAC, the greatest supporter and friend we have in the whole world."

Source: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, 2007, a book written by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt