Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

AIPAC Flack Gets Back to Where He Once Belonged

American Israel Public Affairs Committee spokesman Josh Block is stepping down from his post at the pro-Israel lobby and setting up shop as a consultant for Democrats. Block, who has been AIPAC’s spokesman for the past 9 years, will be starting a new Washington media consulting firm with former Clinton White House aide Lanny Davis.

Block will also join the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank associated with the centrists in the Democratic Party. During his years with the pro-Israel lobby Block maintained a non-partisan approach. But he now seems to be returning to his roots with the Democratic Party, where he worked in before joining AIPAC. “I’m relishing my return to the political, as well as the policy, conversation,” Block told Politico.

Block stressed that he will continue dealing with issues relating to Israel from within the Democratic Party, where he feels there are some progressive Democrats “who think it’s a good idea to let Iran get nukes.”

During his tenure as AIPAC’s spokesman, Block helped the group weather the storm caused by the indictment of two of its top staffers on charges of espionage, which were eventually dropped, and to counter the wave of criticism brought about by the book “The Israel Lobby” by scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt.

AIPAC has been accused throughout the years of being ideologically close to Israel’s Likud party and to the neoconservative branch of the Republican Party. Block has made an effort during his years in AIPAC to fight against this partisan image of the group.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.