Trump aims to woo pro-Israel donors at Aipac despite their lingering worries

As Donald Trump prepares to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), the Republican presidential frontrunner is facing mounting criticism from pro-Israel leaders for his incendiary rhetoric and policy stances.

Meanwhile, after months bashing other candidates for their links to big donors, Trump appears to be making inroads wooing some staunchly pro-Israel megadonors, including billionaire Sheldon Adelson – though other big check-writers still have huge concerns about his candidacy.

Despite awards Trump has received from pro-Israel groups and his boast that he would “do more for Israel than anyone else”, many Jewish leaders both conservative and liberal have found much to criticize about Trump.

The anti-Trump sentiments have targeted his numerous comments on the campaign trail that are perceived as anti-immigrant, anti-women and anti-Muslim, raising the stakes for the real estate billionaire in his Aipac speech on Monday evening.

“Anybody who is lauded by David Duke, Vladimir Putin and Jean-Marie Le Pen, I can’t support,” said former US senator Norm Coleman, a board member of the conservative pro-Israel Republican Jewish Coalition, of which Adelson is the lead funder. “They’re listening to his dog whistles and responding favorably, which frightens me.”

Coleman’s critique of Trump is only one of many from Jewish conservatives, religious leaders and some donors. Pre-Aipac political fireworks began last week when a few dozen rabbis announced they intended to boycott Trump’s speech because of moral concerns about his inflammatory comments about Mexicans, Muslims and other issues.

“We object to Trump’s message,” said Jeff Salkin, a rabbi and Aipac member from Hollywood, Florida, and one of the boycott organizers. “It’s a message of division, bigotry and xenophobia. He’s threatened violence against protesters. This is about who and what we want America to be.”

Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator with the US State Department and now a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center thinktank, said: “In my experience dealing with the pro-Israel community in the US, there has never been a presidential candidate or a politician speaking at Aipac who has been more a source of division and fundamental opposition than Donald Trump.”