Republican Candidates Spar Over Israel Policy
“I think of Ronald Reagan spinning in his grave, listening to these people,” says political analyst Marc Schulman
Eight Republican candidates came together Wednesday night for the first primary debate ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Only former president Donald Trump refused to participate, electing instead to air a prerecorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on X (formerly Twitter), which was broadcast at the same time as the debate.
He wants to hand Ukraine to Russia, he wants to let China eat Taiwan, he wants to go and stop funding Israel. You don’t do that to friends.
However, a heated discussion on foreign policy became one of the highlights on the debate stage when candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy squared off about US aid to Israel.
Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the biotech business mogul has “no foreign policy experience, and it shows.” Ramaswamy has never held political office.
“He wants to hand Ukraine to Russia, he wants to let China eat Taiwan, he wants to go and stop funding Israel,” said Haley, a historically staunch Israel supporter. “You don’t do that to friends. What you do instead is you have the backs of your friends.”
Ramaswamy countered that he’d been to Israel more times in the last decade than anyone else on stage. Israel-America ties, he said, would be more vital than ever under his leadership.
However, the relationship would be one of friendship rather than one of patron and client. Friends, Ramaswamy said, “help each other stand on their own two feet.”
In a recent interview on the social media platform Rumble, Ramaswamy said that as president, he would not renew US aid to Israel when it expires. “Come 2028, that additional aid won’t be necessary to have the kind of stability we’d have in the Middle East by having Israel more integrated with its partners.”
Ramaswamy said his administration would achieve “Abraham Accords 2.0” by connecting Israel to Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Indonesia.
Marc Zell, head of Republicans Overseas-Israel, described Ramaswamy’s position as libertarian, stating that in Ramaswamy’s view, the US shouldn’t send aid to any foreign government under almost any circumstance.
“It’s not that he [Ramaswamy] has anything against Ukraine, Taiwan, or Israel,” Zell told The Media Line. “It’s just that he doesn’t think American tax dollars should go to those purposes.”
Ramaswamy reveres Israel’s policies, such as border protection, crime-fighting, and the Iron Dome anti-missile system, Zell said.
Other Republican candidates were more in line with mainstream Republican policy, Zell noted, specifically pointing to Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis as having track records of supporting Israel.
Abe Katsman, also of Republicans Overseas Israel, told The Media Line that the official Republican platform is that “being pro-Israel is the same as being pro-American.” While Katsman acknowledged that Ramaswamy’s rhetoric might sound “silly” or “naïve,” he explained that the message is that Israel won’t need military aid when it is at peace with the region.
Democrats, by contrast, see Ramaswamy’s position as isolationist and dangerous.
Political analyst Marc Schulman told The Media Line that the debate highlighted a division in the Republican Party between “traditional Republicans, who believe in a strong foreign policy including aid to Israel, and isolationists,” such as Ramaswamy and Trump.
Schulman also argues that Republican isolationism is both populist and increasingly popular. “At this point,” he said, “Ramaswamy is just echoing what Trump has been saying,” and there is growing support for their ideas in the GOP.
“I don’t agree with [Ramaswamy’s foreign policy],” said Zell, “but his views reflect a growing public opinion, particularly with respect to the war in Ukraine.”
Frankly, it’s a world turned upside down. I think of Ronald Reagan spinning in his grave, listening to these people.
“Frankly, it’s a world turned upside down,” Schulman added. “I think of Ronald Reagan spinning in his grave, listening to these people.”
In any case, all the pundits who spoke with The Media Line agree that the views of Republican candidates who participated in the debate may be irrelevant, as Trump is still the leading contender by a wide margin.
Moshe Chertoff, former vice chair of Democrats Abroad Israel, said that Ramaswamy had tried to set himself apart by stating that he was the only person on stage who hadn’t been bought or sold. “That really seemed to piss people off,” Chertoff said, but ultimately, “they’re all pretty much the same.”
Zell argues that the real question Republican voters must answer is “whether the chosen Republican candidate will be the most effective opponent to Biden, or whoever the Democratic nominee ultimately becomes.”
