Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took a swing at Republican front-runner Donald Trump Monday by saying she wouldn’t insist on being “neutral” in an Israeli-Palestinian negotiation, as he has.
“America can’t ever be neutral,” Clinton said at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where Trump was set to speak Monday evening. “Some things aren’t negotiable and somebody who doesn’t understand that has no business being our president.”
“We need steady hands, not a president who says he’s neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday, and who knows what on Wednesday because everything’s negotiable,” Clinton said to cheers.
“Well, my friends, Israel’s security is non-negotiable,” she added.
Trump has come under fire for saying he’d want to enter the talks from a “neutral” position, in the hopes of realistically getting an agreement. But that position has been criticized by both parties as one that ignores the ongoing Palestinian attacks against Israel.
Hundreds of rabbis and Jewish leaders have already committed to walking out of Trump’s AIPAC speech Monday evening, and large protests are expected in downtown D.C. outside the arena. After Trumps’ neutrality comments in the GOP debate the candidate walked back his statement claiming that he is the most pro-Israel candidate in the race.
The former secretary of state is the first of five candidates to speak at the annual pro-Israel conference this year. Although her opponent in the Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders, will not make an appearance, Clinton’s focus was already set on the GOP front-runner.
“I know all you understand what’s at stake in this election,” Clinton said. “The next president will sit down at that desk and start making decisions that affect both the lives and livelihood of Americans and security decisions that our friends face around the world. So we have to get this right.”
Pivoting directly to Trump, Clinton then went on to condemn Trump for his “bigotry” and “intolerance,” comparing his policies of expelling illegal immigrants to the United States turning away European Jews in 1939 as they attempted to flee the Holocaust,
“Today Americans and Israelis face currents of intolerance and extremism in the moral foundations of our society…but what Americans are hearing from one candidate this year is something else entirely,” Clinton said of Trump’s policy proposals. “Eleven million workers to be rounded up and deported, demanding to turn away refugees because of their religion and proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the United States.”
“Now we’ve had dark chapters in our history before. We remember the nearly 1,000 Jews aboard the St. Louis in 1939 sent back to Europe. But America should be better than this,” she declared. The audience leapt to their feet and applauded as Clinton continued, “If you see bigotry oppose it, if you see violence condemn it, if you see a bully stand up to him.”
Clinton also took time to promote the Iranian nuclear deal, a pact that she promoted but AIPAC lobbied against, claiming it endangered Israel. Since the deal went into effect many pro-Israel voters and politicians have questioned its enforcement.
“If I’m elected, the leaders of Iran will have no doubt that if we see any indication that they are violating their commitments not to seek, develop or acquire nuclear weapons, the United States will act to stop it, and that we will do so with force if necessary,” Clinton said.
