With the presidential elections around the corner, it becomes more apparent that this election bears great significance. We are living in perilous times. Iran is moving closer at a rapid pace to obtain a nuclear arsenal. Middle East nations are becoming radical Islamist theocracies likely to threaten the stability of the region. International pressure is mounting on Israel to retreat to pre-1967 borders.

The question beckons: who would be best to lead in these traumatic times? Who would stand by America’s allies? While approximately 78% of voting Jews pulled the lever for Barack Obama in 2008, this year, many Jews are reflecting on that decision four years ago.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a strong record of support for Israel. Romney sees Israel as a time trusted friend and values Israel’s vital importance as a strategic ally. It is an alliance which he calls “unshakable.” The Governor has repeatedly spoken of Israel as America’s most ardent ally in the Middle East.

A strong Israel goes in tandem with Mitt Romney’s vision of a strong United States foreign policy which rejects appeasement of its foes as it stands by its allies. Romney shares Ronald Reagan’s ‘peace through strength,’ doctrine in an unsafe world where there are always challenges to American and global stability. He has stated that, “If you want peace be prepared for war.”

During a republican presidential debate in Florida on January 26, Romney expressed his support for Israel as part of an overall US policy of peace through strength, “The best way for us to have peace in the Middle East is not for us to vacillate or appease,” he states, “but is to say, we stand with our friend Israel. Before the Republican Jewish Coalition Candidates forum on December 7, 2011, Romney echoed that view stating in reference to middle-east nations, “I want every country in the region that harbors aggressive designs against Israel to understand that their ambition is futile and that pursuing it will cost them dearly.”

Governor Romney also calls Israel a friend and has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Israel and its many accomplishments. In one such example, before an A.I.P.A.C. conference in San Diego, he praised the people of Israel for their dedication and tenacity to persevere despite the constant challenges it faces, “That people immigrate to Israel, rather than fleeing from the threatening and violent neighborhood of the Middle East is a testament to their faith courage and character.” he said, adding that “It is an inspiration in an all too self-indulgent world.”

Romney’s enjoys a personal friendship with current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which goes back thirty-six years when the two worked together at a Boston consulting firm. Romney told the New York Times, “We can almost speak in short hand.”

In an implicit reference to the public criticism of Israel leveled at times by the Obama Administration, Romney stated at a republican presidential debate in Florida, “The right course is to stand behind our friends, to listen to them, and to let the entire world know that we will stand with them and that we will support them and defend them.”

Naturally, there could be disagreements between any US administration and Jerusalem, but such disagreements would be discussed through private channels and not aired out before the world. The governor added, “The right course—if you disagree with an ally, you talk about it privately. But in public, you stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your allies.”


The governor added, “The right course—if you disagree with an ally, you talk about it privately. But in public, you stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your allies.”
Regarding the threat of terror groups against Israel, Romney supports Israel’s security barrier, and he has also publicly condemned the hate filled anti-Israel propaganda in school textbooks in schools and the media within the Palestinian Authority.

On the dangers of a nuclear Iran, Romney has also been resolute, stating at an A.I.P.A.C policy conference, on March 6, 2012, “In a Romney administration, the world will know that our opposition to a nuclear Iran is absolute. We must not allow Iran to have the bomb or the capacity to make a bomb.” To the threats level by the Iranian regime against Israel, Romney has stated, “He (Ahmedenijad) should be indicted for the crime of incitement to genocide under article III of the Genocide Convention.

On October 6, 2011, Romney published a list of his choices of foreign policy advisors within a Romney administration, which includes many known staunch supporters of Israel. A few names on that list are Norm Coleman, the former US Senator from Minnesota, Dan Senor, the co-author of a book on Israeli technological innovation, and Jim Talent, former US senator from Missouri, currently a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

On the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Romney has said that he would support Israeli leaders in moving the United States Israeli embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Indications are that Mitt Romney is a stalwart supporter of Israel, which he regards as a valued ally and friend and that a Romney administration would strengthen the alliance between Washington and Jerusalem.