Nearly 20 percent of all members of the House of Representatives will travel to Israel this month courtesy of the American Israel Eduction Foundation (AIEF), according to the Washington Post.
AIEF is the non-profit arm of the pro-Israel lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Although House ethics rules forbid most congressional travel paid for by lobbyists, AIPAC gets around the ban by having AIEF pay for the trips, as LegiStorm highlighted after AIEF sent a large congressional contingent to Israel in 2009.
The group has been sponsoring such trips for large groups of members in non-election years for about two decades, the Post said. This year's group of 81 House members seems to be the largest-ever contingent. The Democratic and Republican members will be visiting and touring the country separately. A group of 26 Democrats is currenly in Israel, and 55 Republicans will follow later this month. About 47 of the Republican members are freshman, the Post said.
The names of the travelers won't be known until the trip disclosure forms are publicly disclosed after the travel is finished. Representatives are required to disclose all privately-financed travel within 15 days of the end of the trip.
The last time AIEF sent a large group of members to Israel during the August recess, in 2009, 28 Democratic members and 24 Republicans toured the country.
These large August trips aren't the only jaunts to Israel AIEF organizes. In April of this year, seven Democrats and two Republicans took a trip to Israel paid for by AIEF. The group is annually among the most-active sponsors of congressional travel.
