Republican presidential candidate assures AIPAC an unbreakable US alliance with Israel; US Senator Ted Cruz: As President I will not be neutral, America will stand unapologetically with Israel; Ohio Gov. John Kasich stresses his “firm and unwavering” support for Israel.
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Hours later, Trump – whose promise to be “neutral” in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, has caused concern among pro-Israel activists – sang a different tune before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual meeting. America can’t ever be neutral when it comes to Israel’s security and survival.
In her speech Monday, Clinton used the opportunity to dig at her Republican presidential rivals.
The group’s leaders took the stage shortly before Netanyahu’s address to denounce the partisan comments by the Republican front-runner Trump. Cruz attacked the frontrunner and said: “As president, I will not be neutral”.
Clinton stressed that Israelis and Palestinians should not give up on hopes for peace, but she put forth a hard line against perpetrators and supporters of recent violence in the Jewish state.
Trump, she said, sounded authentic about his support for Israel, but that was not enough.
As Vice President Joe Biden headed to Israel earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal quoted senior U.S. officials as saying the White House was working on plans for reviving peace talks and for a possible resolution, which could be outlined at Obama’s final appearance at the UN General Assembly in the autumn.
“Hillary Clinton does not have the stamina… does not have the strength to be president”, Trump told Blitzer. She said soon into her time in the Oval Office she would look forward to receiving the Israeli Prime Minister there.
When the event opened for questions, FOX 5’s Ronica Cleary asked Trump about previous remarks he made before the SC primary when he said that he could “run the table” which has not exactly happened since there are still two people in this race.
He focused heavily on Iran, promising to dismantle the nuclear deal negotiated by Mr. Obama, thwart what he described as Iran’s efforts to destabilize the Middle East and punish Iran for testing ballistic missiles: “Nobody has done anything about it”, he said to cheers. Among the chorus of pro-Israel statements, one candidate diverged.
DEMOCRATIC Party US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders called for an end to the occupation of Palestine on Monday night – as his rival Hillary Clinton wooed the Israel lobby.
While Trump is typically known for speaking off the cuff, he appeared to be reading from a teleprompter at the AIPAC conference and released his prepared remarks on his campaign website while he was speaking.
Israel’s security, she proclaimed, “is non-negotiable”.
“We will never allow Israel’s adversaries to think a wedge can be driven between us”, Clinton said.
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Trump was in Washington for closed-door talks with a variety of Republicans organized by his top backer in the capital, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. “We have to be careful who we allow into the country”. “It is also not acceptable that the Netanyahu government chose to withhold hundreds of millions of Shekels in tax revenue from the Palestinians, which it is supposed to collect on their behalf”, Sanders said.
