Issue Positions: US-ISRAEL RELATIONS

Issue Position

Jon is committed to Israel's security as a homeland for the Jewish people and to strengthening the historic, unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel.

Jon has traveled twice to Israel -- once while a graduate student at the London School of Economics and once after his Bar Mitzvah. Jon has deep personal relationships with family who live in Jerusalem and many friends who live in Israel.

As a national security staffer in Congress, Jon worked closely with talented Israeli diplomats to strengthen diplomatic and military ties between the U.S. and Israel.

While working in Congress on military and counterterrorism programs, Jon drafted a Congressional resolution demanding the inspection of Iran's secret nuclear facilities. He also worked on defense authorization bills that helped fund the Iron Dome and David Sling's defense systems, which are essential to protecting Israel from missile and rocket attack.

Israel is a small country in a volatile region that must be equipped to prevail in military conflict with multiple hostile nations and terrorist organizations. Israel must maintain a Qualitative Military Edge (QME) in the region. Jon will work to ensure Israel's military capabilities enable it to defend itself in a large and protracted multi-front war against hostile states and terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Iran is a major state sponsor of terrorism and an avowed enemy of Israel that must not acquire nuclear weapons. In Congress, Jon will push strongly for strict enforcement and uncompromising monitoring of Iran's compliance with obligations to restrict uranium enrichment and to cease ballistic tests. He will support the imposition of additional sanctions in response to ballistic missile tests that violate UN Security Council resolutions and work to strengthen efforts to prevent the flow of arms from Iran to Hezbollah.

Jon believes the United States should play a leading role in efforts to secure a lasting peace in the Middle East. Such a lasting peace will require direct bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the aim of which should be the achievement of a two-state solution with Israel and a Palestinian state living alongside each other in peace. Any peace deal must protect Israel's territorial integrity and ensure Israel's security as a sovereign democratic state and a homeland for the Jewish people without threat of terrorism or invasion.

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