"We need to make sure as well that we coordinate
this effort [regarding Syria] with our allies and particularly
with — with — with Israel."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
"We have to also stand by our allies. I
think the tension that existed between Israel and the United States
was very unfortunate."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
" ... when I’m president of the United
States, we will stand with Israel. And — and if Israel is
attacked, we have their back, not just diplomatically, not just
culturally, but militarily. That’s number one."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
" ... I mean, the president received a letter
from 38 Democrat senators saying the tensions with Israel were
a real problem."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
"I will reaffirm our historic ties to Israel
and our abiding commitment to its security — the world must
never see any daylight between our two nations."
- Foreign
policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute (October
8, 2012)
"I will...work with Israel to increase our
military assistance and coordination."
- Foreign
policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute (October
8, 2012)
"The same incomprehension afflicts the president's
policy toward Israel. The president began his term with the explicit
policy of creating 'daylight' between our two countries. He recently
downgraded Israel from being our 'closest ally' in the Middle
East to being only 'one of our closest allies.' It's a diplomatic
message that will be received clearly by Israel and its adversaries
alike. He dismissed Israel's concerns about Iran as mere 'noise'
that he prefers to 'block out.' And at a time when Israel needs
America to stand with it, he declined to meet with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu."
- Wall
Street Journal (September 30, 2012)
"In this period of uncertainty, we need
to apply a coherent strategy of supporting our partners in the
Middle East—that is, both governments and individuals who
share our values."
- Wall
Street Journal (September 30, 2012)
"America is going to stand by friends, that
it is better to be a friend of America than to be a foe of America,
and I think that means that our relationship with Israel should
be one which the world sees as being extraordinarily close, where
we share objectives."
- High
Holidays Conference Call (September 25, 2012)
"I think [the United States] also have to communicate that Israel is our ally. Our close ally. The president's decision not to meet with Bibi Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, when the Prime Minister is here for the United Nations session, I think, is a mistake and it sends a message throughout the Middle East that somehow we distance ourselves from our friends and I think the exact opposite approach is what's necessary."
- Interview with '60 Minutes' (September 23, 2012)
"In a Romney administration, the world will know that the bond between Israel and America is unbreakable."
- AIPAC Policy Conference (March 6, 2012)
"The best way to have peace in the Middle East
is not for us to vacillate and to appease, but is to say, we stand
with our friend Israel. We are committed to a Jewish state in Israel.
We will not have an inch of difference between ourselves and our ally,
Israel."
- Republican
Presidential Debate (January 26, 2012)
“I will travel to Israel on my first foreign
trip. I will reaffirm as a vital national interest Israel’s
existence as a Jewish state. I want the world to know that the bonds
between Israel and the United States are unshakable."
-
Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum (December 6, 2011)
"My view
is that [President Obama] threw Israel under the bus by laying out his view of the
policies he thought Israel should adopt in the piece process. I believe
that the role of an ally is to stand behind your friends and let them
speak for themselves, rather than be spoken for by the United States
of America. I believe our relationship with Israel, a nation which
shares our values and is our best friend in the Middle East, should
be of support and confidence rather than criticism and blame."
- Interview
with Israel Hayom (October 28, 2011)
"The
right course, if you disagree with an ally, you talk about it privately.
But in public, you stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your allies. The
right course for us ... The right course for us is not to try and negotiate
for Israel. The right course is to stand behind our friends, to listen
to them, and to let the entire world know that we will stay with them
and that we will support them and defend them."
- Republican
Presidential Debate (September 22, 2011)
“American and Israel are bound together by common committments and shared values ... and because we share the same values, we also share many of the same adversaries ... We know that Israel is America’s most ardent ally in
the Middle East."
- AIPAC Conference San Diego (October 19, 2009)
"I will begin discussions with Israel to increase
the level of our military assistance and coordination ... I will reaffirm
as a vital national interest Israel’s existence as a Jewish
state."
- Mitt Romney Official Website
"Is — are Israel and the Palestinians
closer to — to reaching a peace agreement? No, they haven’t
had talks in two years. We have not seen the progress we need
to have, and I’m convinced that with strong leadership and
an effort to build a strategy based upon helping these nations
reject extremism, we can see the kind of peace and prosperity
the world demands."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
"I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard.
One is the one which I've had for some time, which is that the
Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace,
and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish."
- Private
fundraiser quotation published by Mother Jones (May 17,
2012)
"Well, the reason that there’s not
peace between the Palestinians and Israel is because there is
— in the leadership of the Palestinian people are Hamas
and others who think like Hamas, who have as their intent the
elimination of Israel. And whether it’s in school books
that teach how to kill Jews, or whether it’s in the political
discourse that is spoken either from Fatah or from Hamas, there
is a belief that the Jewish people do not have a right to have
a Jewish state."
- Republican
Presidential Debate (January 26, 2012)
"There are some people who say, should we have a two-state solution?
And the Israelis would be happy to have a two-state solution. It’s
the Palestinians who don’t want a two-state solution. They want
to eliminate the state of Israel."
- Republican
Presidential Debate (January 26, 2012)
"That the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is the central problem
in the region [as the Obama Administration sees it] ... has been disproved
repeatedly by events, most recently and most dramatically by the eruption
of the Arab Spring."
- Mitt
Romney Offical Website
"I want every country in the region that harbors
aggressive designs against Israel to understand that their ambition
is futile and that pursuing it will cost them dearly."
-
Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum (December 6, 2011)
"Syria is Iran’s only ally in the
Arab world. It’s their route to the sea. It’s the
route for them to arm Hezbollah in Lebanon, which threatens, of
course, our ally Israel."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
" ... there’s no question but that
a nuclear Iran, a nuclear-capable Iran, is unacceptable to America."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
"I look at what’s happening around
the world and I see Iran four years closer to a bomb."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
" ... Iran is the greatest national security
threat we face."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
"It’s also essential for us to understand
what our mission is in Iran, and that is to dissuade Iran from
having a nuclear weapon through peaceful and diplomatic means."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
" ... I would tighten those sanctions. I
would say that ships that carry Iranian oil can’t come into
our ports."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
"We need to increase pressure time and time
again on Iran ... "
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
" ... it’s essential for a president
to show strength from the very beginning to make it very clear
what is acceptable and not acceptable. And an Iranian nuclear
program is not acceptable to us. They must not develop nuclear
capability."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
" ... the greatest threat that the world
faces, the greatest national security threat, is a nuclear Iran."
- Third
Presidential Debate in Florida (October 22, 2012)
"We have Iran four years closer to a nuclear
bomb."
- Second
Presidential Town Hall Debate (October 16, 2012)
"My own test is that Iran should not have
the capability of producing a nuclear weapon. I think that's the
same test that Benjamin Netanyahu would also apply...I think that
there has to be a recognition that there are boundaries that the
Iranians may not cross."
- Interview
with Wolf Blitzer on CNN (October 9, 2012)
"Let's also recognize that we have a long
way to go before military action may be necessary. And, hopefully,
it's never necessary. Hopefully, through extremely tight sanctions,
as well as diplomatic action, we can prevent Iran from taking
a course which would -- which would lead to -- to them crossing
that line."
- Interview
with Wolf Blitzer on CNN (October 9, 2012)
"For the sake of peace, we must make clear
to Iran through actions — not just words — that their
nuclear pursuit will not be tolerated."
- Foreign
policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute (October
8, 2012)
"In this period of uncertainty, we need
to apply a coherent strategy of supporting our partners in the
Middle East—that is, both governments and individuals who
share our values. This means restoring our credibility with Iran.
When we say an Iranian nuclear-weapons capability—and the
regional instability that comes with it—is unacceptable,
the ayatollahs must be made to believe us."
- Wall
Street Journal (September 30, 2012)
"I do not believe that in the final analysis
we [the United States] will have to use military action. I certainly
hope we don't have to. I can't take that option off the table
-- it must be something which is known by the Iranians as a possible
tool to be employed to prevent them from becoming nuclear. But
I certainly hope that we can prevent any military action from
having to be taken."
- New
York Times (September 28, 2012)
"For me the red line is nuclear capability.
We do not want them to have the capacity of building a bomb that
threatens ourselves, our friends, or the world ... I think we
should indict Ahmedinejad under the Genocide Convention for incitation
to genocide, I think that he, and I think the diplomats of Iran
should be treated like the pariah they are anywhere they go in
the world, I believe that they should be treated the same way
we treated South Africa during apartheid."
- High
Holidays Conference Call (September 25, 2012)
"America must lead the world in stopping
Iran’s genocidal regime from obtaining a nuclear weapons
capability. Ahmadinejad’s latest outrageous remarks [on
August 17, 2012, before al-Quds Day] are just another reminder
of what is at stake."
-
Remarks to the Faith and Freedom Coalition (June 16,
2012)
"In a Romney administration, the world will
know ... that our opposition to a nuclear Iran is absolute. We
must not allow Iran to have the bomb or the capacity to make a
bomb. Our enemies should never doubt our resolve."
- AIPAC
Policy Conference (March 6, 2012)
"I recognize in the ayatollahs of Iran the zealot refrain of
dominion. Their passion for the martyrdom of Arab youth is matched
only by their cowardice in avoiding it for themselves. Nuclear ambition
is pursued by Iran to dominate, to subjugate, and to obliterate. A
nuclear Iran is not only a problem for Israel; it is also a problem
for America and the world."
- AIPAC Policy Conference (March 6, 2012)
"As for Iran in particular, I will take every measure necessary
to check the evil regime of the ayatollahs. Until Iran ceases its
nuclear-bomb program, I will press for ever-tightening sanctions,
acting with other countries if we can but alone if we must. I will
speak out on behalf of the cause of democracy in Iran and support
Iranian dissidents who are fighting for their freedom."
- Washington
Post (March 5, 2012)
"The greatest threat Israel faces and, frankly, the greatest
threat that the world faces is a nuclear Iran ... I don't trust the
ayatollahs, and I don't trust Ahmadinejad ... I will do everything
in my power to assure that Iran doesn't become a nuclear nation [and]
threaten Israel, threaten us and threaten the entire world."
- ABC News (December 28, 2011)
“Ultimately, regime change [in Iran] is what’s going to be necessary.”
-
Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum
(December 6, 2011)
"[Ahmadinejad] should be excluded from
diplomatic society. He should be indicted for the crime of incitement
to genocide under Article III of the Genocide Convention. Iran’s
ayatollahs will not be permitted to obtain nuclear weapons on my watch.
A nuclear-armed Iran is not only a threat to Israel, it is a threat
to the entire world."
- Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum (December 6, 2011)
"The right course in America is to stand up to Iran with crippling
sanctions, indict Ahmadinejad for violating the Genocide Convention,
put in place the kind of crippling sanctions that stop their economy ... There's no price
which is worth an Iranian nuclear weapon."
- Republican
Presidential Debate (November 22, 2011)
"If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon.
If you elect Mitt Romney, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon"
-
Republican Presidential Debate (November
13, 2011)
"If you want peace, prepare for war ... I want peace.
And if I am president, I will begin by imposing a new round of far
tougher economic sanctions on Iran. I will do this together with the
world if we can, unilaterally if we must. I will speak out forcefully
on behalf of Iranian dissidents. I will back up American diplomacy
with a very real and very credible military option. I will restore
the regular presence of aircraft carrier groups in the Mediterranean
and the Persian Gulf region simultaneously ... These actions will send an unequivocal signal to Iran that
the United States, acting in concert with allies, will never permit
Iran to obtain nuclear weapons."
- Wall
Street Journal (November 10, 2011)
"The right course
is for the president to declare that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable
to America, and to punctuate that commitment. I have called for us
to deploy two aircraft carrier task forces, one to the gulf, one to
the Mediterranean to communicate our resolve in that regard."
- Interview
with Israel Hayom (October 28, 2011)
"And with regards to Iran, which perhaps represents the greatest
existential threat to Israel, we have to make it abundantly clear:
It is unacceptable -- and I take those, that word carefully -- it
is unacceptable for Iran to become a nuclear nation."
- Republican
Presidential Debate (September 22, 2011)
