A group of rabbis are planning to boycott Donald Trump’s speech before a leading pro-Israel advocacy group next week.
Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver a remarks on Monday during the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual meeting, but a group of professionals and religious leaders calling itself “Come Together Against Hate” say they won’t condone the candidate’s presence at the meeting.
“We are committed to saying that Donald Trump does not speak for us or represent us, and his values are not AIPAC’s values,” Rabbis David Paskin and Jesse Olitzky wrote when they announced the plans, according to Haaretz. “They are not the values of the Jewish community. They are not the values of our founders’ vision of an America where all citizens are ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.’”
Donald Trump isn’t the only candidate who was invited to speak before AIPAC—Hillary Clinton, John Kasich, and Ted Cruz have also been invited to present their views on Israel, according to The Washington Post.
Trump has been regarded with suspicion among many pro-Israel groups for his comments about maintaining “neutrality” in the dispute between Israel and Palestine, as well as his jingoistic rhetoric that some Jewish leaders have compared to the European far-right.
During a December appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition, he repeatedly called himself a negotiator “like you folks,” and told attendees: “You’re not gonna support me because I don’t want your money.” He declined to affirm his support for a united Jerusalem, and, in an interview with the Associated Press that same morning, questioned whether Israel was truly willing to negotiate with Palestine.