As the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual conference is slated to commence this week, some self-appointed Jewish leaders are calling for AIPAC to disinvite GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump while others are calling for a walk-out or some form of boycott when he speaks. The former option isn’t even legally viable as AIPAC is registered as a 501(c)(4). and under this provision of the U.S. tax code, AIPAC must provide all candidates an equal opportunity to participate.
That leaves us with the latter option – a walk out. Those advocating this position argue that Trump is a “racist” presumably because he wishes to secure the U.S. border, wishes to address trade imbalances due to the unfair practice of currency manipulation by some foreign governments and wishes to protect Americans from malevolent ideologies that wish to destroy any semblance of Western civilization.
Of course, they’ll put a different spin on that matter. As Liel Leibovitz of Tablet puts it, Trump demonstrates “unmasked bigotry” by spewing “…repeated and vile denigration of immigrants, Muslims, and others for no purpose save for the inflammation of electoral nervous systems…” And just to make sure we all understand the point, pictured next to the article is a lighthouse with the words “Trump Watch” written in menacing Nazi-style calligraphy.
Putting aside for the moment that such Nazi-like comparisons are beyond asinine and denigrate the memories of the 6,000,000 who perished in the Holocaust, there is no question that Trump is a flawed person and a flawed candidate. He has demonstrated bouts of narcissism, is an unrepentant braggart and has “misremembered” on a number of occasions. But is he truly any different or worse than Hillary Clinton? She’s been caughtfabricating on more occasions than Richard Nixon on a bad day and has displayed sheer indifference to the lives of those sworn to protect our country – Benghazi comes to mind.
Is he truly any different or worse than Hillary Clinton? She’s been caught fabricating on more occasions than Richard Nixon on a bad day...- Benghazi comes to mind.
But let’s assume for the moment that Leibovitz is entirely correct. Let’s assume that Trump is bigoted and intolerant; what in heaven’s name does that have to do with AIPAC?
AIPAC is a non-partisan issue. It's not about Donald Trump or any other candidate. It's about solidarity with Israel and transcends any single individual or political party. The AIPAC conference celebrates an alliance that has endured through thick and thin for 68 years. An alliance that is based on shared strategic interests and cherished moral values. Those calling for demonstrations or boycotts against Trump during the AIPAC convention detract from this very important purpose. They are nothing more than sanctimonious narcissists who wish to hijack the conference to pursue agendas that have little if anything to do with the strategic U.S.-Israel partnership. They are of course free to protest and boycott but the AIPAC conference is certainly not the appropriate venue to do so.
Then there are those Trump detractors who feign concern over alleged acts of anti-Semitism at Trump rallies. Of the hundreds of thousands who’ve attended Trump rallies, they have only been able to present two instances involving two deranged individuals. With that, they are attempting to paint all Trump supporters and possibly Trump himself – who has an orthodox Jewish daughter – with a broad brush. It’s a sneaky and immoral tactic often used by unsavory elitists to fling mud but the underhanded tactic often works.
As stated, Trump is far from perfect but protesting his presence at an event designed to further cement relations between two great democracies, is completely inappropriate. It is therefore incumbent on AIPAC to take the necessary precautionary measures to ensure that this charade does not occur. Moreover, those who seek to link Trump with Nazism through symbolism or other nefarious methods, maintain ulterior motives that have nothing to do with combatting anti-Semitism and denigrate the memories of those killed in the worst act of genocide the world has ever known.