Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on Friday slammed President Barack Obama over his foreign policy and particularly his treatment of Israel, with Ryan saying that Obama treats Israel “with indifference bordering on contempt.”
The Washington Post reported that Romney told New Yorkers at a fundraiser on Friday morning that “the president’s decision not to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu was an extraordinary confusing and troubling decision.”
The White House told Israel this week that there would be no meeting later this month between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Obama. The two had been set to meet in the days after both Obama and Netanyahu spoke at the UN General Assembly, but Israeli officials said that the meeting had been canceled altogether by Obama, due to “schedule issues.”
The White House later tried to play down the reports that Obama refused to meet Netanyahu. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor explained that Netanyahu and Obama are “simply not in the city at the same time.”
Obama later called Netanyahu and the two leaders spoke by phone, reportedly saying they are “united” in efforts to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
The Washington Post released on Friday an advance copy of remarks by Vice Presidential candidate Ryan at the Values Voters Summit in Washington, in which he said about the Middle East, “Look across that region today, and what do we see? The slaughter of brave dissidents in Syria. Mobs storming American embassies and consulates. Iran four years closer to gaining a nuclear weapon. Israel, our best ally in the region, treated with indifference bordering on contempt by the Obama administration.
“Amid all these threats and dangers, what we do not see is steady, consistent American leadership. In the days ahead, and in the years ahead, American foreign policy needs moral clarity and firmness of purpose. Only by the confident exercise of American influence are evil and violence overcome. That is how we keep problems abroad from becoming crises. That is what keeps the peace. And that is what we will have in a Romney-Ryan administration.”
