Several rabbis and Jewish religious organizations plan to protest Donald Trump’s speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, claiming his comments about Muslims and immigrants are reminiscent of Nazi-era anti-Semitism.
On Thursday, the Union for Reform Judaism issued a statement acknowledging that AIPAC’s conference would give Trump an opportunity to speak “clearly about his views on U.S.-Israel issues.”
But the group claimed that on issues Trump has already addressed, he’s “chosen to take the low road, sowing seeds of hatred and division in our body politic.”
Another group, called “Jews Against Trump,” developed a petition that urges AIPAC to rescind its invitation to the billionaire. As of 5 p.m.Thursday, the petition had garnered 513 signatures.
“A person so diametrically opposed to Jewish values has no place on a stage championing Jewish causes,” the petition states.
Others, like Rabbis David Paskin and Jesse Olitzky, have worked to organize protests against Trump’s speech.
According to CNN, the duo has gathered more than “300 rabbis, cantors and Jewish voters and professionals who plan to signal their distaste for Trump on Monday,” all of whom plan to attend AIPAC’s policy conference in Washington, D.C.
“This is not about policies, this is not about parties, this is about one particular person, Donald Trump, who has encouraged and incited violence at his campaign rallies,” Paskin, a rabbi in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., told CNN.
“We are against the hatred, the incitement of hatred, the ugliness that has engulfed this political season,” he added.
New Jersey-based Rabbi Eric Yoffie, in a column for Haaretz.com, said protesting Trump directly violates AIPAC’s mission to “avoid choosing sides among the political parties or favoring one candidate over another,” but defended the planned demonstrations as necessary.
“The delegates to the AIPAC conference are there to cheer on Israel and go out of their way to avoid choosing sides among the political parties or favoring one candidate over another,” he wrote. “But not this year. American Jews, looking around in stunned disbelief, are concluding that protocol be damned; enough is enough.”
But another rabbi said Trump’s invitation to the conference already violates AIPAC’s mission.
“I go to Washington for a policy conference each year to be inspired – by Israel’s miraculous survival and success, to be informed – by top-tier policymakers and thought-leaders, and to be engaged in the work of deepening the U.S.-Israel alliance,” Baltimore City Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg wrote in a Times of Israel op-ed announcing his decision to skip the conference this year. “Showing up for Donald Trump is simply not part of that agenda. Does AIPAC really believe it is?”
An AIPAC spokesperson did not return the Washington Examiner’s request for comment, but told CNN the group has a “longstanding policy” of inviting all White House hopefuls to speak at the annual conference.
In addition to Trump, the four other remaining 2016 contenders — Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Bernie Sanders I-Vt., former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — have also accepted invitations to speak.
The conference is expected to attract around 18,000 attendees and will take place March 20-22 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
