Washington, DC – For many voters in Illinois, nothing appeared overtly suspicious in the 30-second election advertisement that aired in mid-March.The video starts with a burst of cheerful music, and a narrator praises congressional candidate Bushra Amiwala as a fighter for “real economic justice” and “the real deal”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listBut the video was not part of a genuine effort to get Amiwala elected to the United States House of Representatives. And the candidate quickly disavowed it.Instead, public records reviewed by Al Jazeera now show the commercial was paid for by a political action committee (PAC) associated with the largest pro-Israel lobby group in the US.Funding for the advertisement came from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has been pumping tens of millions of dollars into election campaigns in a push to sink candidates critical of Israel.With the midterm primary season in full swing, advocates say AIPAC is placing its thumb on the scale in many congressional races. Its tactics, they argue, undermine election transparency.“Every cycle, AIPAC shows just how broken our democracy is and how corrupt our political finance system is,” said Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson at Justice Democrats, a progressive group.“Every cycle, they are at the forefront of exploiting those gaps for their right-wing donors and at the expense of voters.”Shell PACsIn Illinois, the advertisement aimed to boost Amiwala in order to syphon off votes from more viable progressive candidates — namely, Palestini …
