Meet The Jews Who Protested Trump’s AIPAC Speech
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/03/21/3762215/jews-protest-trump/
When businessman and Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump took the stage for his controversial speech to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference on Monday evening, the largely Jewish crowd at the Verizon Center stadium erupted into raucous applause. Trump grinned as he waved and shook hands with attendees of the massive gathering convened by the influential Israel lobbying group, beaming in the spotlight as he waited several seconds to allow the cheering to subside.
But when The Donald finally stepped up to the podium to deliver his remarks regarding America’s relationship with Israel, a smattering of attendees—some wearing kippot, others without—quietly exited their seats and filed out into the largely empty hallways. Their exodus was small, and hard to make out in the dim light. But participants say it was meant to represent a significantly larger Jewish opposition to Trump, a man who many Jews—including many prominent Jewish leaders—say is parroting rhetoric and policies that are out-of-step with Jewish values.
One of those who left the arena was Jeremy Markiz, a rabbinical student in Los Angeles who will be ordained in May. He told ThinkProgress that he and several other Rabbinical students met at a nearby bar before the speech to study the Torah and discuss the subject of “derech eretz,” which he described as “living the right way” and fighting back against hate....
Markiz explained that the low-key protest was meant to counter Trump’s statements maligning immigrants and his proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the country, saying they intended their actions to model the “opposite to the rhetoric and vitriol that’s happening this year, in particular the language that’s coming out to hate towards Muslims, and Mexicans.” But he insisted that he move wasn’t a rejection of AIPAC itself, but of the rhetoric Trump has introduced into American political discourse.
We could use some more
derech eretz!
= new reply since forum marked as read
