Mikie Sherrill Took Pro-Israel Money – Yet Insists She Represents All of NJ
By Orum Snow
June 2025
1. She Brands Herself a Moderate, but Takes AIPAC and Special Interest Money Willingly
Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill markets herself as a moderate Democrat, a Navy veteran, and a pragmatist. But when it comes to the most basic moral line – condemning genocide and defending free speech – her record tells a different story. Her record suggests to PACs and donors that her values have a price for purchase.
Sherrill accepted $7,900 from AIPAC’s PAC during the 2021–2022 cycle . That figure is specific and verified – but it’s just one line item.
Over her time in office, Sherrill has received a total of $959,400 from ideological sources, a large share of which include pro-Israel groups like AIPAC and its allies .
In the 2023–2024 election cycle alone:
- She raised $873,577 from PACs, which accounted for 19.85% of her total campaign contributions .
- She took over $450,000 from ideological PACs during just one prior cycle .
These contributions come during the same period that Sherrill:
- Refused to condemn Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
- Remained silent on Palestinian civilian deaths and the siege on medical aid.
- Made no effort to oppose the weaponized IHRA definition of antisemitism, which is increasingly used to criminalize dissent and shield a state from scrutiny.
2. The IHRA Definition: A Shield for War Crimes, Not Jewish Safety
The IHRA definition of antisemitism includes the example of “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” This isn’t about protecting Jewish communities – it’s about silencing survivors, students, scholars, and organizers who dare to speak the truth about apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing.
Even Kenneth Stern, the Jewish scholar who authored IHRA, now disavows its use in policy:
“It was never intended to be a campus hate-speech code,” Stern says.
It has become a weapon to suppress protest, not a shield for safety.
He is joined by more than 350 Jewish and Holocaust scholars who signed the Jerusalem Declaration, rejecting IHRA’s vague and dangerous language. Groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, Bend the Arc, and scholars like Antony Lerman warn that it is being used to criminalize solidarity with Palestine – not to fight antisemitism.
3. What Did Sherrill Do as Gaza Burned? Nothing.
As bombs rained on hospitals and entire families were buried beneath rubble, Sherrill said nothing.
As Israeli citizens watched refugee camps burn from hilltops like it was a fireworks show, she said nothing.
When Jewish survivors and their descendants begged lawmakers to stop using their identities to justify war crimes, she still said nothing.
This isn’t neutrality. It’s purchased complicity.
4. We Reject the Illusion
Mikie Sherrill cannot claim to support justice while aligning herself with a framework designed to punish speech, silence grief, and erase an entire people’s right to resist.
We demand:
- A full, public accounting of all pro-Israel PAC and ideological contributions received.
- A rejection of the IHRA definition and any legislative effort to codify it.
- A clear, unapologetic call for an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza and the U.S. support fueling it.
To be clear:
- It is not antisemitic to condemn genocide.
- It is not antisemitic to compare one atrocity to another.
- It is not antisemitic to say: Palestinians are human.
The people of New Jersey deserve more than slogans and endorsements.
They deserve leaders who will not be bought into silence. They deserve leaders with unshakable values for the good of the people.
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