You knew it had
to come to this.
The
American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has invited, as it does every
four years, all the presidential candidates to speak at its national convention
next week. Among them is Donald Trump,
who has accepted the invitation. And
thankfully, among many of my rabbinic colleagues, there is a plan for a protest
at that appearance. You can see some of
the angst through their words at this website:
www.cometogetheragainsthate.com/#!press-1/emvb4.
The Reform movement has also been thinking about what to do, and you can
see their thinking by clicking here.
It is usual for
presidential candidates to present their pro-Israel bona fides to this group,
and for Aipac implicitly to say to candidates that a pro-Israel position could
garner them Jewish monetary support and votes in the campaign.
But this is
clearly not a normal election year.
The leading GOP
candidate has unbelievably gained strength among his followers through the hateful
use of racist, misogynist, and derogatory language against the press and anyone
whom he does not like. He has bombasted
his way toward his party’s nomination mainly on the backs of Mexicans, Muslims,
and women. And the pro-Israel community now
provides this bigoted blowhard a platform from which potentially to lob insults
and ignorance?!
News of this
invitation to speak at Aipac came with no explanation or disclaimer about the
organization’s feelings about Trump’s unusual campaign methods or irresponsible
use of hateful rhetoric. It is no surprise
that groups of Jews are terribly concerned about the image of Aipac, the sense
that the American Jewish community somehow endorses Trump’s hateful methods and
conclusions, and the future of the relationship of Jews and the two major
political parties.
