It was a quiet first day at the Democratic National Convention on the hot-button issue of Israel–Palestine. The tens of thousands of pro-Palestine protesters that organizers had anticipated ended up numbering in just the four digits. There was only one real skirmish with police outside the convention. Inside the United Center, it was largely quiet as well, with few mentions of the conflict from speakers, little in the way of Israeli or Palestinian flags, and merely one dustup between delegates.

And it was an especially quiet night at the launch party of Zioness Action Fund, the brand-new, “unabashedly progressive, unapologetically Zionist, excitedly pro-Kamala and pro-Democrats” political arm of the pro-Israel nonprofit, despite a star-studded lineup featuring members of Congress and an RSVP list that was oversubscribed. “Event is SOLD OUT!!!!! We are over capacity,” read an email sent out by the organizers.

Promised attendees included congresswomen Shontel Brown, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Kathy Manning, and Marilyn Strickland; congressmen Dan Goldman, Jared Moskowitz, and Adriano Espaillat; and Sens. John Fetterman and Cory Booker.

When I arrived at the event, on the third floor of a swanky downtown Chicago venue, there were about three dozen people present, facing a small stage in the middle of a dark, cavernous, and mostly empty room. A pile of T-shirts that read “Zioness AF,” available in black and blue, sat unattended on a long table out front. CNN political commentator Van Jones was at the dais, finishing a speech that linked the struggle of the Black community to that of the Jewish community (and taking a weird potshot at Puerto Ricans in the process).

The lineup of speakers was chock-full of the Democratic Party’s most loyal supporters of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and top recipients of its financial support. No one said a critical word about the organization all night.

AIPAC, the lobbying group closely allied with right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, has been the largest and most influential outside spender in Democratic elections in 2024, via its United Democracy Project super PAC. It is, critically, not a loyal Democratic operation. In 2022 AIPAC endorsed........

© Slate