At AIPAC, Donald Trump says he'll never treat 'Israel like a second-class citizen'

Donald Trump at AIPAC.
(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Saying he wasn't there to "pander" for votes, Donald Trump told attendees at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference on Monday that he is a friend and lifelong supporter of Israel who views the country as "America's unbreakable cultural brother."

Instead of giving one of his usual off-the-cuff speeches, Trump used a teleprompter for his talk to the pro-Israel lobbying group, and said his "No. 1 priority" as president would be "to dismantle the nuclear deal with Iran." Trump said he studied the deal "more than anyone else," and finds it "catastrophic for America, for Israel, and for the whole of the Middle East." The United Nations, he continued, is weak, and "not a friend of democracy, not a friend of freedom, not a friend even to the United States of America where, as you know, it has its home. It surely is not a friend to Israel."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.