TOI talks: Donald Trumping the AIPAC agenda while Netanyahu stays home

On this week’s episode: Presidential candidates break the paradigms of the US pro-Israel lobby; a conversation with iconoclastic Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo; and foraging for coexistence in the rainy Galilee

By Raoul Wootliff 21 March 2016, 8:11 pm 0 Edit

Raoul Wootliff is the The Times of Israel's political correspondent.

The AIPAC conference is usually a place for feel-good sound-bites about the unshakable Israel-US relationship and cheering competitions for the most pro-Israel speech made by the politicians and policy makers to address the giddy crowd.

But this year’s gathering, coming in the middle of an election campaign, has caused angst for the conference delegates as they struggle with how to address the increasingly aggressive tone of Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

Times of Israel Washington, DC, correspondent Rebecca Shimoni Stoil explains how Trump has dominated this year’s agenda and how he is being perceived by the pro-Israel and US Jewish community.

She also helps breaks down the perceptions of Jewish Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders’s non-appearance at the conference, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first no-show as premier.

Also on this week’s podcast…

Reporter’s notebook

Culture and lifestyle editor Jessica Steinberg brings the sounds and tastes from a recent foraging trip to the Galilee where she searched for wild herbs and found new friends in her Arab-Israeli guide and host.

Blog highlight

Ops and blogs editor Miriam Herschlag speaks with blogger Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo about his iconoclastic world view on Jewish law and spirituality.