Donald Trump seemed to have won over the crowd during his fiery speech at the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Monday. But it seems not everyone was impressed.
According to political site The Hill, leaders of the largest American pro-Israel lobby are now distancing themselves from a comment Trump made about President Barack Obama, telling a cheering crowd that he “may be the worst thing to ever happen to Israel, believe me, believe me.”
On Tuesday, AIPAC president Lillian Pinkus read a statement disavowing Trump’s remarks:
“Last evening, something occurred which has the potential to drive us apart, to divide us,” she said at the group’s annual conference in Washington, DC. “We say, unequivocally, that we do not countenance ad hominem attacks, and we take great offense against those that are levied against the president of the United States of America from our stage.”
Pinkus went on to say: “There are people in our AIPAC family who were deeply hurt last night, and for that we are deeply sorry,” adding that, “we are disappointed that so many people applauded a sentiment that we neither agree with or condone.”
But, as TheWrap previously reported, this was Trump’s first written campaign speech, meaning it had to be loaded up to a teleprompter in advance. Which begs the question: Why didn’t AIPAC know what Trump was planning to say? Better yet, why didn’t they just do this simple Google search?
We tried to find out but neither AIPAC nor Trump’s campaign immediately responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
We’ll update this story if they do.