BLESSED

Rabbis Organize Trump Speech Boycott

At a leading pro-Israel advocacy event.

After it was announced that Donald Trump would speak before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a group of prominent rabbis have organized a boycott of the annual pro-Israel advocacy event. About 40 religious leaders have said they plan to join the protest, which stems from a mix of concerns over Trump’s pledge to be “neutral” about peace talks between Palestine and Israel to anxiety about his style, which some say is reminiscent of fascism. Former George W. Bush speechwriter Noam Neusner said earlier this month: “These are the darkest days for Republican Jews like myself.” He added that the GOP presidential frontrunner “has built within our party the nearest thing America has ever seen to a European nativist working-class political movement. Such movements, to put it mildly, have never been good for the Jews or allies of free thought and the free market.”