Most American adults of voting age believe representatives should visit their congressional districts rather than go to Israel according to a new poll. IRmep Polls surveyed 2,000 American adults about where they believed congressional reps should go during recess.

Junkets to Israel funded by an entity housed within the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a domestically registered lobby and a small number of other Israel lobby groups account for a third of all privately funded congressional trips with an international destination.

Members of Congress participating in the trips are accompanied by AIPAC employees. According to a leaked briefing booklet the trips are designed to present Israel as a militarily vulnerable and valuable ally deserving massive U.S. foreign aid. The program does not include any discussion of Israel’s nuclear weapons program, military occupation of Palestinian territories or meaningful visits with Palestinians representative of those displaced by Israel’s creation.

Grant F. Smith is the director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, DC. For more IRmep polls, visit https://IRmep.org/Polls.

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