AIPAC Slams Trump Over 'Attacks Levied Against Obama From Our Stage'

AIPAC President Lillian Pinkus on Tuesday condemned Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's broadside against President Barack Obama and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in his speech a day earlier.

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Trump had told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Monday, in remarks that generated applause, embarrassing an organization that sees itself as non-partisan in the U.S. campaign, that Obama "may be the worst thing to ever happen to Israel."

Trump also attacked last summer's Iran nuclear deal and accused both Obama and Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state vying for the Democratic nomination to run for president, of treating Israel "very, very badly."

Reading a statement from the podium Pinkas said, as reported by blogging sites Politico and The Hill:

"Last evening something occurred which has the potential to drive us apart, to divide us. We say unequivocally that we do not countenance ad hominem attacks, and we take great offense to those that are levied against the United States of American from our stage."

“There are people in our AIPAC family who were deeply hurt last night, and for that, we are deeply sorry,” Pinkus said. “We are disappointed that so many people applauded a sentiment that we neither agree with or condone.”

“Let us take this moment to pledge to each other that in this divisive and tension-filled political season, we will not allow those who wish to divide our movement from the left or from the right will not succeed in doing so,” she concluded.