Obama has turned his back on Israel, Santorum tells AIPAC
On Super Tuesday – one of the biggest Republican primary days of the year – three leading GOP candidates court pro-Israel voters
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WASHINGTON — Speaking to thousands of pro-Israel activists on Tuesday, the leading Republican presidential candidates accused President Barack Obama of weakness in dealing with Iran and questioned his commitment to the Jewish state.
“From everything I’ve seen from the conduct of this administration, [President Obama] has turned his back on the people of Israel,” said Rick Santorum, one day after Obama said the US would always “have Israel’s back.”
The conservative former Pennsylvania senator, the only GOP candidate to appear in person at AIPAC’s annual conference in Washington, described Obama’s Iran policy as “appeasement” and said he would warn Iran to stop its nuclear program and open up its facilities to inspection immediately.
Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney, speaking via satellite from a campaign stop in Ohio, said “hope is not a foreign policy.”
“The only thing respected by thugs and tyrants is our resolve, backed by our power and our readiness to use it,” said the former Massachusetts governor.
Not to be outdone on Super Tuesday, when Republican voters in 10 states go to the polls to select their nominee for November, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he would sign an executive order to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on his first day in office.
On Iran, he said, “I would provide all available intelligence to the Israeli government and ensure that they had the equipment necessary” to defend themselves. Gingrich said he “would require no advanced notice” if Israel decided to launch a military strike on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
Earlier in the day, Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, gave a full-throated defense of Obama’s Israel and Iran policies to the AIPAC crowd.
“When the president says all options are on the table when it comes to preventing a nuclear Iran, I believe him,” said the Michigan senator. “Iran ignores the president of the United States at their peril.”
Levin attacked those “who would use extreme and divisive rhetoric to drive a wedge between supporters of Israel.”
“We do a disservice to the security of our nation and of Israel if we sit calmly to those who would use Israel to divide us for partisan gain,” he said.
The Times of Israel Community.