Findley served 11 terms in Congress, but lost his bid for reelection in 1982. He was known in Congress as an advocate of the farmers of his district and as a strong proponent of the Palestinians and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

According to the New York Times, in 1982, Findley narrowly lost his bid for re-election for a number of reasons: "a competent opponent, redistricting, the economic recession, and pro-Israel groups support to his challenger," which allowed Findley's challenger to match him in spending. Findley confirmed that his 1982 campaign raised "almost exactly the same sum" as that of his opponent.

A year after September 11, Findley published an article saying that this attack would never have occurred were it not for the US' uncritical support of Israel. In that same article,he wrote that "U.S. policy on the Mideast is made in Israel, not in Washington," and that "once beloved worldwide, the U.S. government finds itself reviled in most countries because it provides unconditional support of Israeli violations of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the precepts of all major religious faiths."

Findley has claimed that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was launched primarily to benefit Israel, at the behest of the Israel lobby in the United States.

Paul Findley is a frequent critic of U.S. foreign policy regarding Israel.

In 1985, Findley wrote the best selling book "People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby" in which he states that the pro-Israel lobby, notably AIPAC, has vast undue influence over the United States Congress. He refers to the lobby as "the 700-pound gorilla in Washington". He closes his book with this plea:

The government of the United States must assert, at long last, its own national interests in the Middle East. ... The world views our nation - accurately - as Israel's essential partner in its military adventurism and its suppression of human rights. America must clear its good name of this complicity. ... The next logical U.S. steps: declare that the people in occupied territories have the right to self-determination and, if they choose, independent statehood; demand that Israeli forces cease the detention of Palestinians without due process, as well as halt the beatings of Palestinians, the destruction of their homes and the use of plastic bullets and other lethal weapons against them; demand that new Israeli settlements in the occupied territories be prohibited. The United States has ample leverage with which to force compliance with these demands. At some point - the sooner the better - the United States must issue a clear ultimatum: notify the Jewish state that all U.S. aid will cease unless Israel, in exchange for border guarantees, withdraws its forces from Arab territories."

The Washington Post reviewing They Dare to Speak Out said: "Stripped of all the maudlin martyrdom, former congressman Paul Findley's message is straightforward and valid: Israeli influence in the United States, including in the inner sanctums of government, is very strong." The New York Times review by Adam Clymer, described the book as "an angry, one-sided book that seems often to be little more than a stringing together of stray incidents ... [it] does not really accept the idea that people of any political point of view are entitled to organize, support their friends and try to defeat the people they think are their enemies".

Findley lists the Israeli lobby as one of the factors contributing to his narrow defeat in 1982, alongside the serious national recession of 1982 and the substantial change of his district's boundaries after the 1980 census. "In seeking gains for Israel, they rigorously stifled dissent and intimidated the entire Congress. They still do. They defeat legislators who criticize Israel. Senators Adlai Stevenson III and Charles H. Percy, and Representatives Pete McCloskey, Cynthia McKinney, Earl F. Hilliard, and myself were defeated at the polls by candidates heavily financed by pro-Israel forces. McKinney alone was able to regain her seat in Congress." (McKinney lost her seat again two years later.)

Findley spoke to NPR about the publication of Mearsheimer and Walt's controversial 2006 working paper, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy : "You can't imagine how pleased I was [...] I think I can pose as a foremost expert on the lobby for Israel, because I was the target the last three years I was in Congress."

Findley has supported the efforts of CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations to improve the image of Muslims in America. In a conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Findley said that "the cancer of anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiments was spreading in American society and requires corrective measures to stamp out this malaise."

The Anti-Defamation League has criticized the Council for the National Interest, Paul Findley is a founder, as an "anti-Israel organization" that "disseminates demonizing propaganda about Israel to academics, politicians, and other audiences." The Anti-Defamation League alleges that as a member of the Council for the National Interest that they have disseminated cartoons with anti-Semitic based themes by Khalil Bendib. Additionally, the Anti-Defamation League has quoted Paul Findley from an article in 2003 as blaming Israel for the September 11 Attacks: "Nine-eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society." Paul Findley continued in the same article stating that "America suffered 9/11 and its aftermath and may soon be at war with Iraq, mainly because U.S. policy in the Middle East is made in Israel, not in Washington." A number of columnists have pointed out that Israeli government policy was and continues to be that the Iranian government is the primary threat and Iraq under Saddam Hussein was only tertiary and largely unimportant.