HUCKABEE & GIULIANI CHALLENGE RON PAUL ON ISRAEL

What Mike Huckabee Said About Israel (Contentions)
Last night, in debate in South Carolina, Mike Huckabee took out after Ron Paul after the libertarian fringe candidate said, “We support Israel, and we try to have this balance. But I think it would be much better to have a balance by being out of there.”

Here’s what Huckabee said:

I’d like to just, with all due respect, Congressman Paul, the issue of whether the president should be in the Middle East comes to something that I think we’ve got to recognize.

We’ve got one true ally in the Middle East, and that’s Israel. It’s a tiny nation. I’ve been there nine times. I’ve literally traveled from Dan to Beersheba, and I understand something of that nation and the vulnerability of it.

And for us to give the world the impression that we would stand by if it were under attack and simply say, “It’s not our problem,” would be recklessly irresponsible on our part.

And if I were president, you can rest assured that we would not let an ally be annihilated by those enemies which is surround it, who have openly stated it is their direct intention to destroy that nation. It would not happen under my presidency.

Paul, Giuliani debate Israel (JTA)
Republican presidential candidates Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani argued over Israel during a debate.

During the debate on Thursday night, sponsored by Fox News and held in South Carolina, Paul argued that the United States should keep out of the Israeli-Arab conflict and the Middle East in general. At one point he argued that one problem with America's support for Israel is that it ends up robbing Jerusalem of its sovereignty.

"In many ways, we treat Israel as a stepchild. We do not give them the responsibility that they deserve. We undermine their national sovereignty. We don’t let them design their own peace," Paul said. He added: "And I just don’t see any purpose in not treating Israel in an adult fashion. I think they would be a lot better off. I think they, one time in the ’80s, took care of a nuclear reactor in Iraq. I stood up and defended Israel for this. Nobody else did at that time."

Giuliani quickly rejected Paul's argument as "absurd."

"The reality is that Israel is a close and strong ally of the United States," Giuliani said. "America has only a few extremely reliable allies, special relationships. The defense of Israel is a -- critical importance to the United States of America, and it goes much deeper than just tactical things."