U.S. Rep. Ed Case, who’s well on his way to winning a fifth consecutive term in Congress, received nearly $32,000 from donors aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, according to newly filed campaign spending reports. 

The donations came through AIPAC’s donor platform, which allows people to earmark contributions and give directly to congressional candidates. While AIPAC’s political action committee did not directly contribute to the congressman’s campaign for the 2026 election, it did give him $10,000 in 2024.

Backing from AIPAC has become increasingly controversial for Democrats this election cycle. The group is known for aggressively targeting politicians who criticize Israeli policy and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the country’s right-wing government. 

Support for Israel has plummeted since Netanyahu unleashed a harsh military response in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. International groups, including the International Association of Genocide Scholars and a panel of the United Nations, have concluded Israel’s actions amount to genocide, a characterization Israel denies.

The ongoing humanitarian crisis there has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians, including more than 21,000 children. The group has spent millions of dollars targeting Democratic candidates skeptical of providing more U.S. financial aid to the country to bolster its military. 

Just this month AIPAC announced it would stop endorsing and contributing directly to candidates, although it intends to maintain its United Democracy Project, a super PAC that so far has reported spending more than $85 million this election cycle. 

Most of Case’s AIPAC donations came after he defeated state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole in the August primary and about a month after he refused to back a House measure in July that would have eliminated nearly $3 billion in military aid to Israel. The amendment, which was introduced by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, failed 104 to 314 and split the Democratic caucus. 

Case was among the 98 Democrats who voted with Republicans to block the measure, and was joined by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, who represents Hawaiʻi’s 2nd Congressional District, was on the other side of the vote. 

Despite his support for military aid, Case has been openly critical of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks and Netanyahu, who is fighting to stay in power as ballots are counted in this week’s Israeli elections.

“I definitely did disagree with Israel’s response to the attack on Israel — the severity, the disproportionality, the incredible tragedy of so many civilian deaths,” Case told Hawaiʻi News Now in July. “I am a straight-up opponent of the current leadership of Israel.”

Case reiterated his opposition to Netanyahu in a statement to Civil Beat on Tuesday, saying that he hopes the Israeli people choose “a different path today.”

The donations tied to AIPAC make up a fraction of Case’s overall contributions, which totaled more than $1.3 million this election cycle. 

AIPAC’s PAC did not report giving money to any other of Hawaiʻi’s congressional candidates in 2026, although Republican State Sen. Brenton Awa, who is running against Tokuda, has said that the group had approached him about getting involved in the race for CD2. 

The last time Tokuda’s campaign received money from AIPAC was in 2022 when the group and its backers reported giving her campaign $18,500 in contributions. 

AIPAC has not reported giving to either U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz or Mazie Hirono since it first started spending directly on elections in advance of the 2022 midterms.