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 About 18,000 people are expected to attend the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee's three-day annual conference in
Washington. It is not clear how many will either boycott or walk out
of the Republican presidential front-runner's address.
"He has taken every opportunity to vilify women, Muslims, Mexicans,
immigrants and the disabled," said Jeffrey Salkin, a rabbi in
Hollywood, Florida, who asked rabbis across the country to join him
in a boycott. He said 40 had agreed and signed a protest letter he
hoped to distribute at the conference.
Another group of rabbis and students called Come Together Against
Hate is planning to walk out of the room after Trump takes the
stage. Jesse Olitzky, one of its organizers, said he did not know
how many people would participate. The group's Facebook page had 300
members.
Some of the students received an email earlier this week from AIPAC
warning that if they disrupted the speech, they would have their
conference access revoked. An AIPAC official said on Thursday the
message "went out in error and was not authorized."
"I know nothing about that," Trump said in a Reuters interview on
Thursday when asked if he had heard about the planned protests and
whether he intended to respond.
When he announced his candidacy last summer, Trump said some people
crossing the U.S. border from Mexico were criminals and rapists, and
promised to build a wall along the border.
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In December, he called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the
country, on national security grounds. Last week, he told CNN:
"Islam hates us." The Anti-Defamation League and an organization of
Reform rabbis condemned his comments.
AIPAC, which is non-partisan, routinely hosts presidential hopefuls
at its conference. Trump's remaining Republican rivals, U.S. Senator
Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich, will address the
group as well.
"The job of AIPAC is not to decide whose policies we like or look
into the souls of people," said Seth Siegel, an AIPAC veteran who
said he was not speaking on behalf of the organization.
"It's the organization's job to try to educate elected officials
about how to deepen the U.S.-Israel relationship for the benefit of
both parties," he said. "Having Trump speak at the policy conference
is unambiguously part of that mission."
(Reporting by Emily Flitter; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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