Sessions mocked for citing ‘Jewish AIPAC event’
Attorney-general taken to task for reference during testimony on alleged Trump-Russia collusion before Senate committee
US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions was roundly mocked on Tuesday for referencing a “Jewish AIPAC event” during his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee probing allegations of collusion between Russia and members of the presidential campaign of US President Donald Trump during last year’s elections.
Sessions said he was excited to attend a speech to be given by Trump because the only time he’d heard him speak previously was at a “Jewish AIPAC event,” in reference to the pro-Israel lobby the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Trump, as a candidate, spoke before the organization and its guests at the annual AIPAC conference in 2016.
In his testimony, Sessions said he had been “very anxious to see how president Trump would do in his first major foreign policy address. I believe he’d only given one major speech before, that was maybe at the Jewish AIPAC event…”
Sessions: "I believe (Trump) had only given one major speech before, and that was maybe at the Jewish AIPAC event…" #SessionsHearing pic.twitter.com/0ABvlSf1UM
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) June 13, 2017
The Twitterverse mocked the attorney-general for the remark, which erroneously refered to the organization as “Jewish,” when it lobbies for Israel and has many non-Jewish members and activists.
Calling AIPAC a “Jewish lobby” would “add up to an effort to delegitimize pro-Israel activists and has elements of age-old anti-Semitic conspiracy theories alleging insidious Jewish efforts to dominate seats of power,” the Anti-Defamation League once described in a past statement.
The Jewish AIPAC event, as opposed to the Christian one. #SessionsHearing
— Eric Lang (@ericclang) June 13, 2017
AG Sessions won’t have won any friends with his description of the "Jewish AIPAC event”
It was a "which century are we in?” moment
— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) June 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/goodlittletiger/status/874706438714777600
https://twitter.com/Mr_Electrico/status/874707602445348867
Sessions says he also saw Trump speak at "the Jewish AIPAC event"
— Rick Klein (@rickklein) June 13, 2017
The Times of Israel Community.