Right-leaning pro-Israel groups are targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar , a Minnesota Democrat and outspoken critic of the Israeli government who is one of the most high-profile progressive members of Congress.

Antone Melton-Meaux , 47, the Minneapolis attorney seeking to unseat Omar, 37, in the states Aug. 11 Democratic primaries, raised more than $1.5 million in May alone.

Much of that cash comes from political action committees opposed to more U.S. pressure on the Israeli government. Two such groups, Pro-Israel America and NORPAC, have bundled more than $400,000 for Melton-Meaux to date.

These Israel hawks investment in unseating Omar follows an expensive and ultimately unsuccessful intervention on behalf of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel. Given Engels massive deficit in the in-person vote, the New York Democrat has all-but-officially lost to Jamaal Bowman , a progressive challenger who is more critical of Israel, in his June 23 primary.

Omars race provides this subset of pro-Israel activists and donors a fresh opportunity to demonstrate their strength after an embarrassing defeat.

The stakes are high because Members of Congress are watching to see how much muscle these groups really have, said Joel Rubin, a progressive foreign policy hand who ran Jewish outreach for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign and served as a senior official in the Obama administrations State Department.

As of the end of May, Pro-Israel America, which was founded by two former staffers at the pro-Israel mega-lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, had raised over $303,000 for Melton-Meauxs bid from hundreds of individual donors, according to official campaign finance disclosures.

NORPAC, a metropolitan New York City-area group, raised $106,000 for Melton-Meaux over the course of three virtual fundraisers in May and June.

Leaders of both organizations cited Omars left-wing views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including her apparent support for the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, as a motivation for supporting a challenge against her. (Omar, who supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, does not agree with BDS supporters goal of a single bi-national state.)

Rep. Omars views are way out of step with her Democratic colleagues and the American public, Jeff Mendelsohn, a former AIPAC official who runs Pro-Israel America, said in a statement.

The pro-Israel leaders also pointed to insensitive comments Omar has made that they consider anti-Semitic.

People are very motivated to get rid of someone who they feel is a racist against them and against their families, said Ben Chouake, a New Jersey physician and president of NORPAC. A lot of people wanted in on this one.

While the groups are offering Melton-Meaux serious cash, their support comes with potential political risks since both organizations raise money for Republican candidates as well.

In particular, NORPAC, which has been around for much longer than Pro-Israel America, is a major source of campaign cash for top Republicans . This election cycle, about two-thirds of the money it has raised has gone to Republican candidates, including over $160,000 to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the largest recipient of NORPAC cash in Congress in the past two years. (In 2018, NORPACs giving was inversely proportional, with about two-thirds of its fundraising going toward Democrats .)

We are not party-driven, Chouake said. Were issue-driven.

Some major NORPAC donors even contribute to President Donald Trump . Howard Jonas , founder of the telecommunications firm IDT, donated the maximum individual contribution of $5,600 to Trumps reelection, as well as $8,900 to the Republican National Committee.

Omar is already using the support of figures like Jonas against Melton-Meaux.

Trump and his campaign dont only have a problem with me and people who look like me they are threatened by our growing progressive movement, she wrote in a June 30 tweet soliciting new contributions. So much so their donors are even funding our Democratic establishment opponents campaigns.