American rabbi and author Shmuley Boteach confronted Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy regarding his stance on funding Israel.
Rabbi Boteach challenged Vivek: "You cannot call yourself a pro-Israel candidate and at the same time call for support for its essential military needs to be discontinued. That's just wrong."
Vivek insisted, "Let's get the facts straight - my position is that the $3.8 billion in annual support should continue."
Rabbi Boteach also pressed him regarding a significantly larger $14 billion dollar support package that he claimed had received bipartisan support among American lawmakers. "Pro-Israel candidates cannot call for Israel to be defunded while it is fighting a war for everything Western Civilization stands for. Hamas is a threat to the United States, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and their fellow Islamists."
Vivek did not respond to Rabbi Boteach's claim, although he has in the past called for America to reduce defense aid to Israel to "let Israel learn to stand on its own two feet".