metro » an a l ysis

David Horovitz | Times of Israel

W

hen Donald Trump made his
entrance to the packed Verizon
Center in Washington, D.C.,
the night of March 21, the applause from the
more than 18,000 AIPAC conference partici-
pants was polite, even warm, but certainly
not overwhelming.
But then, Trump delivered a river of
emphatically pro-Israel sound bites to a
crowd that applauded with increasing enthu-
siasm as he progressed. Soon he was having
to pause for brief standing ovations. Then
he was giving the thumbs-up signal. Now he
was waiting, lips pursed, shoulders shrug-
ging, palms out, as if to say: You know I’m
right, and I’m the only one with the guts to
say it.
By the mid-point, he was able to castigate
Hillary Clinton as “a total disaster, by the
way” — hours after she had delivered a care-
fully crafted, thoroughly pro-Israel and well-
received address here — and garner what
sounded like as much applause as howls of
disapproval. And by the end, many were
cheering him — emphatically not all, but
many — sorry it was all over so soon.
Was AIPAC’s Policy Conference a tough
audience for Donald J. Trump? It was easy,
even for a candidate lambasted by the Anti-
Defamation League just days before for slan-
dering minorities and bringing intolerance
into the American political mainstream, a
candidate who has difficulty disavowing the
support of white supremacists.
Troublingly for the pro-Israel lobby, whose
bipartisan credentials are central to its cred-
ibility and effectiveness, he also had sub-
stantial sections of the audience applauding
when he described President Barack Obama
as arguably “the worst thing that ever hap-
pened to Israel.”
Clearly, Donald Trump is a highly effec-
tive speaker. The revelation was that this
audience, whom AIPAC had worried might
protest the candidate too rudely, was so effi-
ciently, almost effortlessly won over. Some
had walked out in protest at his appearance;
they were a very small minority.
Trump was promising that his “No. 1
priority” as president would be to dismantle
“the disastrous deal with Iran.” And no mat-
ter that, minutes later, he was merely pledg-
ing to “enforce its terms.”
And in perhaps his most applauded line,
he was declaring that “When I become presi-
dent, the days of treating Israel like a second-
class citizen will end. On Day 1.”
Trump was pushing all the right buttons,

14 March 31 • 2016

offering unstinting praise for Israel to a
pro-Israel constituency starved of uncritical
support for a lot longer than two terms of
government. And the response, in parts of
the stadium at least, gradually moved toward
adulatory.
By the time he staged his most audacious
gambit, his most divisive gambit, much
of the crowd was in the palm of his out-
stretched hand.
“With President Obama in his final year,
YAY,” he began. And then he paused for the
roar of approval he knew would come. And
come it did — to the doubtless extreme
discomfort of the AIPAC leadership. Trump
stood and waited and smiled and shook his
head a little. And then he followed up with,
“He may be the worst thing that ever hap-
pened to Israel, believe me, believe me.” And
the applause welled up again. Not wall-to-
wall, but plenty of it. “And you know it. And
you know it better than anybody.”
Obama and Clinton have “treated Israel
very badly,” he said. Many in this audience
plainly agreed with him.
Inside the Verizon Center, there was no
talk of “neutrality” on the Israeli-Palestinian
issue. There was no repeat of his comment,
just hours earlier, that Israel should pay for
its U.S. defense aid. Instead, Trump was
now moving toward his conclusion. “I love
the people in this room. I love Israel … My
daughter Ivanka is about to have a beautiful
Jewish baby.”
The next day, however, the president of
AIPAC rebuked Trump, scolding him for his
harsh comments about Obama.
“Last evening something occurred which
has the potential to drive us apart, to divide
us,” AIPAC President Lillian Pinkus said dur-
ing the final day of the organization’s annual
policy conference. “We say, unequivocally,
that we do not countenance ad hominem
attacks, and we take great offense against
those that are levied against the president of
the United States of America from our stage.
“While we may have policy differences,
we deeply respect the office of the United
States and our president, Barack Obama,” she
added, to resounding applause. “There are
people in our AIPAC family who were deeply
hurt last night and for that we are deeply
sorry.
“We are disappointed that so many people
applauded a sentiment that we neither agree
with or condone.”

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For an opinion piece on Trump’s speech, see
page 8.

Donald Trump

Bernie Sanders

Hillary Clinton

Josh Morof

Josh Morof

Josh Morof

Trump Conquers The Crowd

Josh Morof

The Candidates And AIPAC

John Kasich

Ted Cruz

Sanders Criticizes Israel

Rebecca Shimoni Stoil | Times of Israel

W

hile declaring his commit-
ment to Israel’s security,
Democratic presidential can-
didate Sen. Bernie Sanders accused Israel
of using disproportionate force in its mili-
tary operations and pilloried the settle-
ment policies of the Netanyahu govern-
ment, in a speech released March 21 while
the candidate campaigned in Utah.
Sanders’ address discussed the topics he
would likely have raised if he had spoken
at AIPAC.
“I have a deep personal connection to
Israel,” Sanders said, quipping that he was
“fairly certain I am the only U.S. presi-
dential candidate to have ever lived on a
kibbutz.”
Sanders said that the very closeness of
the friendship between the U.S. and Israel
obligated the parties “to speak the truth as
we see it.”
His speech paired criticism of Israel
with criticism of Palestinian actions,
but while he mentioned terrorism in the
framework of ISIS and Hezbollah, Sanders’
address referred to the ongoing wave of
violence against Israeli civilian and mili-
tary targets alike only as “attacks.”
Sanders pledged to “work tirelessly to
advance the cause of peace as a partner
and as a friend to Israel” but argued that
“to be successful, we have to be a friend
not only to Israel, but to the Palestinian
people.
“There is too much suffering in Gaza to
be ignored,” Sanders declared, but stopped
short of ascribing blame for the cause of
the suffering.
Sanders spoke out against what he
described as “Israel’s recent expropriation
of an additional 579 acres of land in the
West Bank,” which, he said, “undermines
the peace process and, ultimately, Israeli
security as well.”
The senator accused Israel of “dispro-
portionate responses to being attacked,”
while adding that “any attack on Israel is
unacceptable.”

“Peace will also mean ending the eco-
nomic blockade of Gaza,” he added.
He lashed out against the current Israeli
government, saying that it was “absurd for
elements within the Netanyahu govern-
ment to suggest that building more settle-
ments in the West Bank is the appropriate
response to the most recent violence,” and
that it was “also not acceptable that the
Netanyahu government decided to with-
hold hundreds of millions of shekels in tax
revenue from the Palestinians, which it is
supposed to collect on their behalf.”
His critique of Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas was more
limited, saying that it was “unacceptable”
for Abbas “to call for the abrogation of the
Oslo Agreement when the goal should be
ending the violence.”
Sanders was more critical of the Hamas
government in Gaza, saying that he
“strongly object[s]” to Hamas’ “long-held
position that Israel does not have the right
to exist.”
After critiquing Hamas’ behavior,
Sanders once again balanced his critique
with a reminder that he, “along with many
supporters of Israel — spoke out strongly
against the Israeli counter attacks that
killed nearly 1,500 civilians and wounded
far more,” including “the bombing of hos-
pitals, schools and refugee camps.”
Sanders called on the international com-
munity to “come together to help Gaza
recover.”
Regarding the Iranian nuclear deal,
Sanders said, “I do not accept the idea that
the ‘pro-Israel’ position was to oppose the
deal.
“If Iran does not live up to the agree-
ment, we should re-impose sanctions
and all options are back on the table,” he
continued, while calling on the world to
“stand united in condemning Iran’s recent
ballistic missile tests as well as its contin-
ued support for terrorism through groups
like Hezbollah.”

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