Four of the five remaining presidential candidates in USA have put the onus on Palestinians to find peace with Israel, speaking at the annual conference of the prominent pro-Israel lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
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Vice President Joe Biden addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington, Sunday, March 20, 2016. “Not a president who says he is neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday and who knows what on Wednesday because everything is negotiable”, Clinton said in a clear shot at the Republican front-runner.
“We know Israel is willing to deal”, he told the crowd at AIPAC, pinning the failures of recent attempts at peace talks on Palestinian Authority leadership, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her successor, John Kerry. I mean, we pay billions- hundreds of billions of dollars to supporting other countries that are in theory wealthier than we are. While the U.S.is officially neutral in the Middle East conflict, his statement marked a rhetorical departure for USA presidential candidates. Echoing Prime Minister Netanyahu, Trump said, “The biggest concern with the deal is not necessarily that Iran is going to violate it, although it already has, the bigger problem is that they can keep the terms and still get to the bomb by simply running out the clock, and, of course, they keep the billions”.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz went one step further, saying that “Palestine has not existed since 1948” – an apparent reference to the date of Israel’s creation, which Palestinians call the nakba, or “catastrophe”.
“At what point do you say, “Hey, we have to take care of ourselves”?” he said.
He’s refused to make the perennial Republican campaign promise of promising to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, drawing boos past year from the Republican Jewish Coalition.
In a lengthy interview Monday with the editorial board of The Washington Post, Trump outlined a distinctly non-interventionist approach for America in the world.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While Trump has previously said he would be neutral between the Israelis and the Palestinians, he described the Palestinians as unwilling partners and said they will have to stop attacks on Israel before he would support any kind of agreement.
– Defence of the Iran nuclear deal, unpopular with many in the room. I will be listening very carefully to what he says and what he doesn’t say. What about on the Republican side – Trump’s rivals? He also said, “NATO is costing us a fortune, and yes, we’re protecting Europe with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but we’re spending a lot of money”. “Well, my friends, Israel’s security is non-negotiable”.
The leader of one of Washington’s most prominent synagogues said that he felt compelled to denounce Trump as he spoke at a conference of Israeli activists.
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Clinton also spent much of her speech attacking Donald Trump (though not by name) in a highly partisan speech from a candidate whose party regularly insists the Israel issue should never be politicized.
