Clinton escalates her attacks on Trump In her speech before AIPAC, the former secretary of state calls a Trump presidency 'unthinkable.'

Hillary Clinton on Monday launched her most pointed attack yet on the Republican front-runner, calling the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency “unthinkable” as it relates to America's position in the world and pivoting hard to the upcoming general election.

Addressing the hard-line lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Clinton underscored the importance of taking the special American-Israeli alliance to the “next level” and touted a far more pro-Israel vision for the future than that of the likely Republican nominee, who is scheduled to address the conference Monday evening.


“Tonight ... you’ll get a glimpse of a potential U.S. foreign policy that would insult our allies, not engage them, and embolden our adversaries, not defeat them,” Clinton said. “For the security of Israel and the world, we need America to remain a respected global leader, committed to defending and advancing the international order, an America able to block efforts to isolate and attack Israel.”

“The alternative,” she said, “is unthinkable.”

In contrast, Clinton highlighted her own “unwavering, unshakable commitment to our alliance” with Israel and recalled her decades-long personal relationship with Israel and its leaders, including her first visit to the Jewish state 30 years ago and an intimate moment during Bill Clinton’s administration when she forced former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin outside to the balcony when he wanted to smoke in the White House.

The annual AIPAC conference marks the first time Clinton and Trump will appear before the same group on the same day — and the target and tone of Clinton’s foreign policy remarks showed her newly sharpened focus on her likely Republican adversary. Last week, Clinton won a string of five important primaries across the country that increased her delegate lead over Bernie Sanders to 300, all but ensuring her position as the Democratic nominee.

Foreign policy addresses throughout the campaign have provided the former secretary of state with some of her strongest moments. Her speech on the Iran nuclear deal at the Brookings Institution last September won praise even from her critics. On Monday, Clinton used that firm grounding to take on Trump.

“Yes, we need steady hands,” she said. “Not a president who says he’s neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday and who knows what on Wednesday because everything’s negotiable. Well, my friends, Israel’s security is nonnegotiable.”

Clinton was making a direct reference to Trump's political blunder when he promised that America would play the role of a "neutral" broker between Israelis and Palestinians. During a Republican debate last month, Trump noted that he was "a negotiator" when asked whether the United States should continue to support the Palestinian Authority. "As a negotiator, I cannot do that as well if I'm taking sides," he said. "That being said, I am totally pro-Israel."

Trump’s appearance at AIPAC Monday night presents a high-stakes test to woo wary Jewish voters; a group of rabbis has already threatened to walk out in silent protest. Clinton's appearance in front of AIPAC was less novel; she spoke at the same event when she was a candidate for president eight years ago, and again as secretary of state in 2010.

Clinton also excoriated the rhetoric and violence that have defined Trump’s campaign rallies. “What Americans are hearing on the campaign trail this year is something else entirely,” Clinton said. “Encouraging violence; playing coy with white supremacists; calling for 12 million immigrants to be rounded up and deported; demanding we turn away refugees because of their religion; and proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the United States. We’ve had dark chapters in our history before ... but America should be better than this.”

“If you see bigotry, oppose it,” she said. “If you see violence, condemn it; if you see a bully, stand up to him.”

Clinton, who has been embracing President Barack Obama on the campaign trail in the South and on the debate stage as she fends off attacks from Sanders, on Monday appeared to create some distance from his administration when it comes to Israel. Relations between the United States and Israel have reached a low point as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely opposed the Iran deal, and Obama has been vocal about his frustrations with Israel’s leadership.



“The United States and Israel must be closer than ever, stronger than ever,” Clinton said, and she said that “One of the first things I’ll do in office is invite the Israeli prime minister to visit the White House.”

She added that “we will never allow Israel’s adversaries to think a wedge can be driven between us. When we have differences, as any friends do, we will work to resolve them quickly and respectfully.”

Sanders skipped the annual Jewish confab, citing his busy campaign schedule. But he announced Sunday night that he would deliver a foreign policy address of his own from the campaign trail in Salt Lake City on Monday.

But Clinton appeared to have moved on to the next fight, even making a rare pointed reference to the importance of electing a woman as president: “Some of us remember a woman, Golda Meir, leading Israel’s government decades ago and wonder, what’s taking us so long here in America?”

