Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Sen. Robert Menendez Thanks AIPAC For Backing Him During Corruption Trial

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sen. Robert Menendez received a hero’s welcome at AIPAC, where the New Jersey Democrat thanked the lobby for its support during his corruption trial.

Menendez, who returned recently to the top Democratic spot on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his trial ended in a mistrial, was among the few speakers to the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference to receive a standing ovation just for walking on the stage.

“Sometimes God puts a Goliath in your path until you find the David within you, and I found the David within me,” Menendez said. “Many of you today were part of that slingshot.”

Menendez, a leading pro-Israel Democrat, fundraised in the pro-Israel community during his trial. In 2015, federal prosecutors charged Menendez with accepting favors from a political donor. The Justice Department dropped the charges in January following the mistrial late last year.

An unsubstantiated narrative persists among some in the pro-Israel community that the Obama administration initiated the prosecution because Menendez was among a handful of Senate Democrats who opposed the Iran nuclear deal of the same year. No evidence has emerged to support the thesis.

“When my children ask me if I knew what was going to happen, would I have taken those same stands, and my answer is a resolute yes,” Menendez said to one of multiple standing ovations.

Menendez encouraged the Trump administration to supplement the Iran deal, which traded sanctions relief for a rollback in Iran’s nuclear program, by coordinating with Europe to target Iran’s missile program and Iranian military adventurism.

He also targeted the Trump administration for giving what he depicted as a free hand to Russia in Syria.

“These agreements with Russia are dangerous,” he said. “In Syria, here at home or around the world, Russia is not a partner for stability and peace.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.