Ron Paul Shocks Campaign Staff With New Position On Israel
Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul revealed this week that he would support moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a surprising position that contradicts conventional wisdom about Paul’s stance toward the Jewish state.
Paul first made this position known Wednesday night, during a private meeting with evangelical leaders interested in helping the Texas Congressman reach out to the conservative Christian community.
According to a transcript of the meeting obtained by Business Insider, the leaders started off the meeting by asking Paul whether he would sign an Executive Order to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a major policy objective for Israeli hardliners and many leaders in the Christian Right.
“The real issue here is not what America wants, but what does Israel want,” Paul told evangelical leaders, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by Business Insider. “If Israel wants their capital to be Jerusalem, then the United States should honor that.”
“How would we like it if some other nation said ‘We decided to recognize New York City as your capital instead, so we will build our embassy there?'” he added.
Even Paul’s senior campaign aides were surprised by his response.
“We were floored,” senior advisor Doug Wead told Business Insider. “It sounds like pure Ron Paul, but it still caught us off guard…If someone would have asked him that in a national debate, I suppose it would have popped right out, but nobody did!”
Wead added that Paul’s position “makes sense after the fact,” noting that the candidate has frequently emphasized Israel’s sovereignty.
Still, Paul’s stance will likely come as a surprise to GOP leaders, most of whom view Paul’s non-interventionist foreign policy ideas — and particularly his stance towards Israel — as his greatest weakness. The septuagenarian Congressman has largely been snubbed by the right-wing Jewish community, and was even excluded from a December presidential candidates’ forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition because of his “misguided and extreme” foreign policy views.
“I appreciate what he said about Israel — as a matter of fact, I was pleasantly surprised,” Brian Jacobs, a Texas pastor who attended Wednesday’s meeting, told Business Insider. “It helped answer a lot of questions that I had.”
Ironically, Paul and Newt Gingrich are now the only presidential candidates who have said that they are in favor of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the U.S. Embassy there. President Barack Obama has postponed moving the Embassy. Romney “would like to see the U.S. Embassy eventually moved to Jerusalem,” campaign spokesman Andrea Saul said in a statement emailed to Business Insider.
While Paul’s position is unlikely to change the near-certain outcome of the Republican primary, it could help Paul gain support among evangelical leaders, many of whom have been hesitant to support Romney. Jacobs, who has worked as a consultant for televangelist Billy Graham, told Business Insider that several evangelical leaders have started to express interest in talking to Paul in the wake of Rick Santorum’s departure from the race.
Jacobs said he is now working with the Paul campaign to organize conference calls between the candidate and evangelical leaders. Christian television producer Justin Machacek, who also attended Wednesday’s meeting, said he is working on arranging a larger meeting between Paul and other conservative Christian groups.
A relationship with Christian Right powerbrokers could give Ron Paul more leverage within the party, as Romney tries to unite the GOP after this year’s divisive primary fight. It could also help broaden the Paul coalition, setting the stage for a future run by Paul’s son, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul.
“100% of Christian leaders that I’ve talked to, do you know the one thing they like about Ron Paul? His son Rand Paul,” Jacobs told Business Insider. “Every Christian leader will say, ‘You know I’m not quite sure if Ron Paul can win the nomination’…but in the same breath, they tag it with, “But I sure do like the way his son has followed him.'”
——-
Commentary: this is really a very sad development as for all his dogmatic and misguided views on economic topics, Ron Paul always held a deeply moral and fundamentally logical and sound position on US foreign policy and to see this otherwise honorable man cave in, albeit in private, to one of the most immoral and evil lobbies on the planet is terrible way for Ron Paul to end his political career. The only good thing coming from this is now we can honestly say that the Republican Party is truly entirely composed of lunatics, imbeciles and prostitutes.
The Saker
I’m not worried about it at all, for the following reasons:
1) It is entirely consistent with Paul’s stated principles of neutrality and non intervention. He never campaigned on righting the wrongs done to Palestinians, only that he would cut aid to all foreign countries including Israel. And that he would reconcile with Iran and avoid foreign wars. That position hasn’t changed at all.
2) I ***WANT*** the US to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Why? First, because I don’t need the US to tell me that Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinians and second, because the only reason the US keeps its embassy in Tel Aviv is to avoid additional embarrassment to Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf puppets. But I ***WANT*** them to be embarrassed. I want them to be denied every possible fig leaf used to cloth their naked treachery.
Now if Ron Paul would start back tracking on foreign aid, reconciliation with Iran, foreign wars, that would be a different matter entirely. But he wont. First, because if he was going to, he would have done it long before now. And second, he has an army of loyal supporters, few of whom are fans of Israel or the foreign wars the US loves to conduct. They (we) would drop him as well as Rand Paul if we thought he was softening up on the most important issues. He knows this. And there isn’t an Army of neocons looking to support Ron Paul to replace us.
In, short, this is much ado about nothing IMHO. However, I’m always on the lookout if there is ever a real sign of selling out.
jerusalem is not the capital of israel..tel aviv..zionist jews like to call jerusalem he capital but that is not legal.
RP has just shown he knows who provides the funding for US politicians! US is now firmly a servant of tiny israel
what abizarre comment:
‘2) I ***WANT*** the US to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Why? First, because I don’t need the US to tell me that Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinians and second, because the only reason the US keeps its embassy in Tel Aviv is to avoid additional embarrassment to Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf puppets. But I ***WANT*** them to be embarrassed. I want them to be denied every possible fig leaf used to cloth their naked treachery.’
translation…Lysander is a zionist..or exceptionally dim.
FYI
Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com ;
NOTES IN THE MARGIN
I note, with a sigh of resignation, the “news” that Rep. Ron Paul has supposedly come out for moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in recognition of the Israeli claim to that city as its capital. I also note that the only sources for this “news” are 1) Business Insider, a site that has never been friendly to Paul and has consistently engaged in baseless speculation about a “deal” with Romney, and 2) Doug Wead, a Republican operative and advisor to Paul whose secret recording of conversations he had with President George W. Bush – and their subsequent release – earned him near-universal distrust. The Paul campaign has issued no official statement of this new policy, and there is nothing on their web site about it as of Sunday afternoon, when this column is being written. Perhaps Mr. Wead will release his secret recording of the alleged conversation Paul had with evangelicals leaders, where he allegedly made this pledge.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31116.htm
so it may not be true
My view: the allegation that Paul sold-out to any group is suspect. I agree with Raimondo of antiwar.com.
“
translation…Lysander is a zionist..or exceptionally dim.”
If I qualify as a zionist, then everybody does. As for dim, maybe you need to look into the role the house of Saud has played as a defacto ally of Israel from the very beginning. Anything that hastens their downfall would be a wondrous gift.
He’l consider but might not do it…
I agree with Ron Paul…it is Israel’s nation…if they want the capitol in Jerusalem…it is their choice…not america’s to make! GO RON PAUL!!!!
I agree whole hearted ly with Ron paul…and it is completely consistent with his policy of not intervening in another nation’s business….It is entirely up to Israel where they want their own capitol…not our choice to make! RON PAUL 2012!!!!