WASHINGTON – The five candidates at Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate were eager to weigh in on Israel during the first GOP event since the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked war in the region.
NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt asked the presidential candidates – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Tim Scott (RS.C.) – how they would deal with the ongoing crisis if they were in the Oval Office right now.
While the response was overwhelmingly in favor of Israel, several candidates stood out for their global security expertise. For others – like Ramaswamy – the question highlights a gaping hole in their foreign policy resume.
Former Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said impatiently when Holt asked what she “would be pushed for [Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do – do you [have him] consider a humanitarian pause, for example?”
“The first thing I said to him when it happened was, ‘get over them,'” Haley said. “They have to one, eliminate Hamas, two support Israel with whatever they need, whenever they need it; and three, make sure we bring home our hostages.”
The five Republican candidates at Wednesday’s debate were eager to consider the Israel-Hamas war.AFP via Getty Images
The fiery response contrasted with President Biden’s recent move to push Israel to impose a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza to allow for the recovery of hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid. So far, Netanyahu has refused to end the conflict without a substantive agreement with Hamas for the release of the hostages.
“The last thing we need to do is tell Israel what to do. The only thing we should do is support them and eliminate Hamas,” he said. “Not because Israel needs America – America needs Israel. They are the tip of the spear when it comes to this Islamic terrorism and we need to make sure that we are behind them in that process.”
Haley also emphasized the need to hold Iran accountable for sponsoring Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East that are behind not only attacks in Israel but also more than 40 attacks on US service members in the region since Oct. 17.
“We have to be careful to know that there will be no Hamas without Iran,” he said. “There is no Hezbollah without Iran; there would be no Houthis without Iran; and there wouldn’t be Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq trying to attack our military men and women if it weren’t for Iran and Iran’s funding right now.”
Nikki Haley emphasized the need to hold Iran accountable for sponsoring Hamas.REUTERS
Meanwhile, DeSantis will also encourage Netanyahu to destroy Hamas, stating that he is “sick of hearing other people blame Israel just for defending itself.”
“I will tell Bibi to finish the job once and for all with this butcher, Hamas,” he said. “They are terrorists, they kill innocent people. They would fight every Jew out in the world if they could.”
“[Netanyahu] cannot live with that threat by his country. Hamas should release every hostage and they should surrender unconditionally,” he added.
He also took the opportunity to highlight his work to evacuate more than 700 Americans from Israel on a recent flight to Florida who have been stuck in the country without a return flight.
Ron DeSantis says he will encourage Benjamin Netanyahu to destroy Hamas.AP
“Biden’s neglect is cruel. We had a Florida citizen who was there after the attack. He left them stranded because they couldn’t get a flight out. So I found a source in Florida, I sent a plane to Israel,” he said. “As governor, I actually did something about it.”
Christie spoke of his concern that Israeli intelligence officials missed the Hamas attack, failing to detect Hamas’ plans until it was too late, while Scott promised that he would tell Netanyahu that Israel had his full support.
“I will tell Prime Minister Netanyahu, ‘You have the responsibility and the right to wipe Hamas off the map,'” Scott said. “We will support you, we will be there with you, we will stand shoulder to shoulder.”
Chris Christie talks about concerns that Israeli intelligence officials missed signs of a Hamas attack.AP
Further, Scott chided Biden and former President Barack Obama for relying too much on diplomacy when it comes to international conflicts. Specifically, he called on the US to attack Iran, which strongly supports Hamas.
“I’m going to tell President Biden very clearly: if you want to stop over 40 attacks on military personnel in the Middle East, you have to attack in Iran,” Scott said.
Far less experienced than his rivals, Ramaswamy’s lack of understanding of foreign policy was on full display when it came to Israel.
Although the entrepreneur spoke sentiments of support for Israel, he did not offer any clear path to the guidance he would offer Israel. Instead, he returned to his “America First” idea.
Israel’s mobile artillery units fired shells towards the Gaza Strip.AP
“The founding vision of Israel is based on the idea that they do not want to depend on the sympathy or instructions of others in defending themselves, so what I will tell Bibi is that Israel has the right and responsibility to defend itself,” he said. said. “I will tell them to suck up the terrorists on their southern border. And I’m going to tell him as president of the United States, I’m going to suck up terrorists on our southern border.”
Although Ramaswamy did not say definitively that he would support sending Israel military aid or other funding to carry out its war against Hamas, he made it clear that he felt that fighting Hamas was Netanyahu’s job – not America’s.
“That’s his responsibility, that’s how we move forward,” he said.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
