GOP debate: 2024 candidates promise steadfast support for Israel in war with Hamas
WASHINGTON – Foreign policy dominated the third Republican presidential debate and the 2024 GOP candidates pledged steadfast support for Israel in its war with Hamas.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, when asked how he would advise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he was in the Oval Office, said he would urge Netanyahu to “finish the job once and for all with these butchers, Hamas.”
“We will stand with Israel in word and indeed in public and in private,” DeSantis said, calling Biden’s response has been “atrocious.” He also spoke about flights he had organized for Americans stuck in Israel to return to Florida.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, touted her foreign policy credentials and said the U.S. must “support Israel with whatever they need whenever they need it.”
“The last thing we need to do is to tell Israel what to do. The only thing we should be doing is supporting them and eliminating Hamas. It is not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel,” she added.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who has often drawn the ire of his rivals in the field for his bombastic remarks, said Israel has a right to defend itself and that he would advise Netanyahu to “smoke those terrorists.”
At the same time, Ramaswamy said he would be “smoking the terrorists on our southern border,” likening the migrant crisis at the southern border to the Israel-Hamas war.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., attacked Biden over what he said was a “weak strategy” in foreign policy and said he would tell Netanyahu that he has “the responsibility and the right to wipe Hamas off the map.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie offered similar advice and said “America is here. No matter what it is you need at any time to preserve the state of Israel.”