Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Trump Aide Threatens AIPAC for Apologizing to Obama

Three months after AIPAC’s annual policy conference, Jason Greenblatt, real estate attorney and Donald Trump’s Israel adviser, subtly threatened the lobby for apologizing to President Barack Obama for Trump’s speech.

In a joint interview to the Jewish Link and JNS.org, Greenblatt said that he does not think the American Israel Public Affairs Committee should have apologized to Obama for Trump’s comments — adding a “yay!” after saying that it would be his last year in office — and the audience cheers and applause that followed his presentation.

“It was wrong of AIPAC to do that,” he said, adding that Trump probably wouldn’t hold a grudge against AIPAC. “I would not have made that decision if I were them.”

Greenblatt added to his comments by saying that AIPAC only did so because they did not expect Trump to win the Republican nomination.

“We are disappointed that so many people applauded a sentiment that we neither agree with or condone,” Pinkus said back in March.

AIPAC representative Marshall Wittmann declined to comment on Greenblatt’s statements.

“When they issued the apology, you remember, there were a lot of other candidates on the stage. And then, very quickly, he won,” said Greenblatt. “I am not sure they anticipated that. But it’s a question they should have asked themselves.”

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.