JERUSALEM: US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state and told an Israeli audience that the United States has “a solemn duty and a moral imperative” to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability.
In an apparent endorsement of a position held by the Jewish state but never accepted by the international community, Romney said: “It is a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked him for his remarks, later telling him: “I want to thank you for those very strong words of support and friendship for Israel and for Jerusalem that we heard today.
“Jerusalem today is marking the destruction of the city thousands of years ago. As you see it’s been rebuilt by the Jewish people, open to all the three great faiths, vibrant, bustling,” he said, shortly after the end of Tisha B’Av, when Jews traditionally fast to mourn the destruction of the two Jewish Temples.
“And as you said, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and Jerusalem will always be the capital of Israel,” he said in remarks communicated by his office.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the most contentious issues of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel, which occupied the largely Arab eastern sector during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, claims both halves of the city to be its “eternal and undivided capital.”
But the Palestinians want the eastern sector as capital of their promised state and fiercely oppose any Israeli attempt to extend sovereignty there.
Most of the international community, including the United States, does not formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital due to the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, insisting the issue can only be resolved through final status negotiations.
All foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv with consular representation in Jerusalem.
In 1995, the US Congress passed the so-called Jerusalem Embassy Act recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and stating that the US embassy should be moved there.
But an inbuilt waiver, which allowed the president to temporarily postpone the move on grounds of “national security” has been repeatedly invoked by successive US presidents, from Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barak Obama, meaning the law has never taken effect.
Almost four years ago, in August 2008 — some three months before the US presidential election — Obama, then a Democratic hopeful, made a similar statement about Jerusalem.
“Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel. I have said that before and I will say that again,” Obama said on a tour of the southern Israeli town of Sderot, making clear that the status of the city was “a final status issue.”
Iran's nuclear threat
Presenting himself as Israel’s best friend in the Nov. 6 presidential election, Romney said that “any and all measures” must be used to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
“Make no mistake, the ayatollahs in Iran are testing our moral defenses. They want to know who will object and who will look the other way,” Romney said in Jerusalem. “We will not look away nor will our country ever look away from our passion and commitment to Israel.”
The presidential election hovered over the speech, with the Old City forming a made-for-television backdrop behind Romney, while some of his campaign donors listened in the audience.
A top aide said Romney would support an Israeli military strike if all options had been exhausted, but the candidate himself balked at repeating that position.
In a foreign policy speech in Jerusalem, Romney voiced strong support for the alliance between the United States and Israel and seemed to suggest that President Barack Obama had let the relationship flounder.
“We cannot stand silent as those who seek to undermine Israel voice their criticisms. And we certainly should not join in that criticism. Diplomatic distance in public between our nations emboldens Israel’s adversaries,” said Romney, the walls of the Old City lining the hilltop behind him.
The former Massachusetts governor was in Jerusalem on the second leg of a trip to strengthen his foreign policy credentials in his race to unseat Obama.
“We should employ any and all measures to dissuade the Iranian regime from its nuclear course, and it is our fervent hope that diplomatic and economic measures will do so. In the final analysis, of course, no option should be excluded. We recognize Israel’s right to defend itself, and that it is right for America to stand with you,” he said.
Though he adopted an aggressive tone, Romney did not go as far as his senior foreign policy adviser, Dan Senor, who said earlier: “If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing that capability, the governor would respect that decision.”
The aide’s comments put Romney at odds with Obama’s efforts to press Israel to avoid any preemptive strike before tough Western economic sanctions against Iran run their course.
Romney, however, refused to repeat them when asked by CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“Well I think because I’m on foreign soil I don’t want to be creating new foreign policy for my country or in any way to distance myself in the foreign policy of our nation. But we respect the right of a nation to defend itself,” Romney said.
The failure of talks between Iran and six world powers to secure a breakthrough in curbing what the West fears is a drive to develop nuclear weapons has raised international concern that Israel may opt for a military strike.
The presidential hopeful was greeted warmly earlier by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an old friend of his, who has at times had a strained relationship with Obama.
Netanyahu issued his customary call for stronger measures behind the sanctions to prevent Iran from developing an atomic bomb, which Israel says would be a threat to its existence. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
“We have to be honest that sanctions have not set back the Tehran program one iota and that a strong military threat coupled with sanctions are needed to have a chance to change the situation,” Netanyahu said.
Israel, widely assumed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state, has warned it is only a matter of time before Iran’s nuclear program achieves a “zone of immunity” in which uranium enrichment facilities buried deep underground will be invulnerable to bombing.
Though Washington has been pressing Israel not to launch a solo strike on Iran, Obama has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to curb Iran’s nuclear drive.
In an effort that appeared timed to upstage Romney’s visit to Israel, Obama signed a measure on Friday to strengthen US-Israeli military ties. His defense secretary, Leon Panetta, is also expected to visit Israel later this week.
Romney’s overseas tour got off to a rocky start, when he angered the British by questioning whether London was ready for the Olympics, a statement he was forced to clarify after a rebuke from Prime Minister David Cameron.
His visit to Israel gives him the opportunity to appeal to both Jewish voters and pro-Israel evangelical voters and contrast himself with Obama.
Romney has sharply criticized Obama’s handling of Iran as not being tough enough.
After talks with Israeli leaders, Romney met Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. He then visited the Western Wall, Judaism’s most revered site.
Wearing a black Jewish skullcap and surrounded by a determined throng of security personnel who cleared a path for him, Romney carefully navigated his way through hundreds of worshippers, some of whom shouted cries of support.
Romney ends his trip on Monday with a fundraiser for a crowd of mostly Jewish Americans who live in Israel.
The Romney campaign initially declared the fundraiser off-limits to reporters, but on Sunday said it would allow press coverage after journalists complained the campaign was reneging on a prior agreement to open more of its finance events.
