Vivek Ramaswamy in Iowa campaign stops opposes $106B aid package for Ukraine, Israel
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called on lawmakers Saturday to reject an aid package of more than $100 billion proposed by President Joe Biden to help wars in Israel and Ukraine.
During two days of barnstorming around eastern and central Iowa, Friday and Saturday, Ramaswamy compared Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel to the way U.S. residents felt after 9/11. He also warned that Israel could get drawn into a bigger Middle Eastern conflict and urged for caution to avoid spreading the war.
Last Thursday night, Biden called on Congress to allocate $106 billion in aid to Ukraine and Israel for their respective wars. Saturday, Ramaswamy called for lawmakers to vote against the proposal; citing the high cost of previous U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israel's unclear military objectives in Gaza.
Reuters reported that under the plan $60 billion would go to Ukraine, $14 billion would go to Israel, $10 billion would go to humanitarian aid, $14 billion would go to border security and $7 billion would go to the Indo-Pacific region. During stops in Ottumwa and Oskaloosa Saturday, Ramaswamy said repeatedly that $60 billion would help Ukraine, and not Israel, while voicing his opposition to the package.
"I'm very worried that is going to be a disaster in the making," Ramaswamy said Saturday in Ottumwa. "This is the most pro-Israel thing we can do to elevate open debate to avoid making the same kinds of mistakes that we made after 9/11."
Generational divide splits GOP field on Israel
Ramaswamy, 38, has touted throughout the primary season that he is the first millennial to run for president as a Republican. But because he is much younger than his more war-hawkish GOP rivals, he could perceive the conflict in Israel differently, he said Friday.
On Saturday while speaking to a crowd of around 50 in Ottumwa, Ramaswamy recalled his own experience as a high school junior sitting in U.S. history class watching coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in horror. An Israeli assault on Gaza could mire Israel in a ground conflict "That could be disastrous in the complexity of it," he said in Ottumwa.
"My generation was the one who was lied to systematically about the war in places like Iraq and even elements of Afghanistan," Ramaswamy told reporters Friday. "Thousands upon thousands of people of people my age, who sacrificed their lives that we won't ever get back, those are mistakes."
How does Ramaswamy feel about the Israeli-Hamas war?
Hamas’ attacks on Israel were “barbaric," Ramaswamy said Saturday in Oskaloosa.
On Oct. 10, he called for a “rational response that supports Israel” while avoiding a wider U.S.-led Middle Eastern War. Ramaswamy said the U.S. should provide Israel with diplomatic support, intelligence sharing and munitions. But unlike many of his other GOP rivals, he does not believe an Israeli assault on Gaza will help.
"I'm very worried that is going to be a disaster in the making," Ramaswamy said Saturday in Ottumwa. "This is the most pro-Israel thing we can do to elevate open debate to avoid making the same kinds of mistakes that we made after 9/11."
In August, Ramaswamy said he would end financial support for Israel, “ saying an "Abraham Accords 2.0" would create diplomatic deals between Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, according to ABC News. He also said that Israel should not be given aid indefinitely.
"I want to get Israel to the place where it is negotiated back into the infrastructure of the rest of the Middle East,” Ramaswamy said in August, according to ABC News. “We should not be worried about holding one nation or one region hostage over one particular question relating to Palestine.”
On Saturday he said his view has not changed. Israel must define its objectives and what the U.S. is expected to aid, he said.
"In the absence of that clarity, we should not be providing funding against the backdrop of what I think is lining up to be a disastrous result in a ground invasion of Gaza without a clear objective," Ramaswamy told reporters Saturday after a campaign stop in Oskaloosa.
Allison Box, 61 and Mark Box, 64, went to a Ramaswamy event on Friday when he visited Fort Madison. Allison Box was undecided on who to caucus for. Mark Box likes former president Donald Trump but "could be persuaded" by Vivek.
About war in Israel Allison Box said, "I'm sick about the war over there. I'm sick of what's happening in this country with people protesting." Her husband questioned the dangers of the war.
"I'm worried that if you roll in there with tanks, I don't know how you roll back out without an absolute bloodbath,” Mark Box said. “To what end?"
Donald Engedretson, 76, of Middletown, said Trump was his number one choice but now he thinks he will caucus for Ramaswamy.
"He drew a pretty clear picture of both wars, and what he would do,” Engedreston said of Ramaswamy’s assessment of the conflict. “We all know what the politics are that are involved, especially in Israel. That's why they haven't invaded yet."
Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 4,000 Palestinians since the conflict began on Oct. 7, the Associated Press reported Saturday. U.S. asylum laws are broken as it is, Ramaswamy told reporters Saturday in Oskaloosa.
"That's not specific just to the Palestinian refugees," Ramaswamy said. "I think that we need to put a freeze on asylum to this country, at least until we have comprehensively reformed the illegal immigration crisis."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.