Attendees at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference were skeptical of Hillary Clinton’s pro-Israel pitch, but expressed confidence that she would at least be an improvement over President Obama.
“I think today she said what AIPAC wanted to hear,” Elisha Tropper, an attendee from N.Y. told the Washington Examiner. “Oh she’d probably be better than Obama. How could she not be? Today she made the funny remark regarding Trump that you don’t want to insult your allies … So if she’s distancing herself from Obama and everything he’s done in regards to Israel, that’s a good thing.”
AIPAC opposed the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, warning it would endanger Israel. Clinton supported the deal and still touts its benefits today, much to the chagrin of the over 18,000 attendees.
During her speech Monday morning, the former secretary of state boasted that her leadership helped the Obama administration “impose some of the toughest sanctions in history on Iran” and that the world was safer for it. But Clinton also pledged that if Iran violates its 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.”
“I thought it was a bad deal,” Rabbi Sheldon Moss, who lobbied Congress to reject the deal last year, told the Examiner. “But I do think she’ll be vigilant. Will she be tough enough? We’ll have to see.”
“Its very likely she’ll be stronger [than Obama] on U.S-Israeli relations. Our current president gave $100 billion to a country that fosters terrorism. He’s nothing in response to the ballistic missile testing,” attendee Yehuda Weissen added to the Examiner.
As attendees welcomed the possibility of a slight departure from seven and a half years of Obama, they wondered where the other Democratic primary candidate was. Although invited to speak, Bernie Sanders is the only candidate still in the race in either party who did not attend.
“I’m disappointed but I’m not surprised,” AIPAC attendee Marci Ronik told the Examiner. “I don’t think his message would go over well with this crowd. I just don’t think he has a strong stance on Israel. He hasn’t even owned the fact he’s Jewish, and I don’t think this crowd appreciates that.”
The Vermont senator is the only Jewish candidate in the race, but he rarely talks about Israel or his religion on the campaign trial. Since Sanders will not attend the annual policy conference, he gave a foreign policy speech Monday afternoon in Salt Lake City.
“I think it’s very harmful to his reputation. I honestly really feel he needed to be here,” attendee Muster Severe told the Examiner. “So I’m disappointed in Bernie. I’ve supported him financially and I think he’s distancing himself from the Jewish community and Israel by doing this, and that’s a big mistake.”
