The Republican presidential candidates expressed this Saturday their unreserved support for Israel against Hamas, and launched their foreign policy promises when they reach the White House in front of a Jewish forum that brings together the influential donors.
“The United States is absolutely with Israel,” said former President Donald Trump, who was the most applauded presidential candidate at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), which held its annual meeting in Las Vegas.
The annual event, which traditionally serves as a campaign platform for White House hopefuls, took on a tone of urgency this weekend with the escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
“The RJC was created for a time like this,” said Norm Coleman, president of the Coalition. “To ensure that the United States supports Israel in doing whatever it takes to eliminate Hamas.”
“It’s about good versus evil. You’re with Israel, or you’re with people who are killing women and children and the elderly and kidnapping them,” said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, setting the tone for in the activity.
“The United States stands with the Israelis in their mission to ensure that Hamas is crushed and that all atrocities are avenged,” Trump said, pointing his arrows at Democratic President Joe Biden, and avoiding attacking his Republican opponents.
Trump, who leads the Republican primary polls but has been plagued by judicial problems, won applause by promising to defend Israel “like never before.”
“The conflict between Israel and Hamas is not a conflict between equal sides. It is a fight between civilization and barbarism,” he said, referring to the attack carried out by Hamas on October 7 that left more than 1,400 who died in Israel.
The event came as a surprise the morning when Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, announced his withdrawal from the election race. “It’s not my time yet,” he said.
But aside from that, the talks followed a rhetoric of criticism of the Joe Biden administration and support for Israel.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the Hamas attack “the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.”
De Santis, placed second in the polls, raised, like other candidates, the fears of an anti-Semitic development in American universities, defending a legislative offensive, in addition to a economic blockade against houses of study, and immigration measures against foreign students.
DeSantis has promised to cancel visas for student protesters in favor of Palestine, a position shared by pre-candidates who have preceded him.
“We need cultural chemotherapy to fight this cancer,” Senator Tim Scott once said.
“Any student who advocates killing and terrorism should be expelled from campus. Any student with a visa who calls for genocide should be deported,” the senator added.
One of the lowest positions is that of businessman Vivek Ramaswamy who, although he insists there is no middle term in his alliance with Israel, warned that Washington should provide strong diplomatic support but keep its troops down. from conflict.
This year, with the development in the Middle East following the attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Israel on October 7, the security of the event was strengthened with extraordinary measures and a wide deployment of police. and troops.
The space, which got last-minute additions like newly appointed House Speaker Mike Johnson, also serves to pay tribute to Israel’s victims of the conflict.
In addition to the more than 1,400 deaths reported in Israel, authorities say the Islamist group is holding about 230 Israeli hostages kidnapped in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas Ministry of Health said in its latest report this Saturday that 7,703 people, mostly civilians, died in Israeli bombing.
