Eli Lake, Columnist

Aipac Opens Door to Democrats Who Supported Iran Deal

The pro-Israel lobby fought the nuclear accord and lost, but it's not showing a grudge.

October 21, 2015 at 2:02 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat, defied Aipac on the Iran deal. He appears to be forgiven.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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Last month, after Democratic senators protected President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran from censure in the Senate, many in Washington wondered whether the lawmakers who supported the deal would pay a price with the pro-Israel lobby that fought so hard against it.

The early signs from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, are that most of them won't. On Monday, Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat who supported the Iran deal despite being heavily courted by Aipac to oppose it, was a featured speaker at a luncheon organized by Aipac members in the real-estate industry.