Issue Position: U.S.-Israeli Relations

Issue Position

Israel is our closest ally in the Middle East, providing the United States with a stable and dependable partner in a hostile region of the world. Israel faces many of the same threats confronting the United States and we share a common interest in eradicating threats to peace worldwide. For these and other reasons, the United States has an undeniably strong interest in defending Israel's national sovereignty and security.

As a member of the U.S. Senate, I will support Israel's right to defend itself against threats to its national sovereignty and security. I will also support U.S. efforts to protect Israel, given the close connection between Israel's national security and our own. I strongly support the maintenance of Israel's qualitative military edge and recognize the important role the United States plays in assuring that this military superiority is maintained. In the Senate, I would support security assistance for Israel to enable Israel to maintain this critical edge. Such security assistance to Israel plays an important role in helping to maintain our own national security.

The government currently ruling in Iran presents a threat to the security of both the United States and Israel. I will therefore support efforts to place pressure on the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with an eye toward persuading Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. Should those efforts prove unsuccessful, military action would be justified.

I support direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority based on the fundamental principals that Israel should remain (and be recognized by the Palestinians as) a Jewish state, Israel must have safe and secure borders and the ability to monitor and protect those borders, and any peace treaty must bring a permanent end to any and all claims of the Palestinians. If there are differences between the U.S. and Israel regarding the peace process, those differences should be discussed and resolved in private, as is befitting the close relationship between two great democratic allies. No country, including the United States, should seek to impose any agreement upon Israel.

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