GOP frontrunner Donald Trump spoke at a meeting of America’s leading pro-Israel lobby on Monday night, laying out specific details about how he would handle Iran and protect Israel if he is elected president of the United States.
“I’m a newcomer to politics, but not to backing the Jewish state,” Trump told the audience gathered at the D.C. meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “I came here to speak to you about where I stand on the future of American relations with our strategic ally, our unbreakable friendship … the only democracy in the Middle East, the state of Israel.”
“My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran,” the billionaire stated. “I have been in business a long time. I know deal making and let me tell you, this deal is catastrophic for America, for Israel and for the whole of the Middle East.”
Trump said the problem with the deal with Iran is that the United States awarded the leading sponsor of terrorism with $150 billion, but “We’ve received absolutely nothing in return,” adding that he’s studied this issue “greater by far than anybody else.”
“The biggest concern with the deal is not necessarily that Iran is going to violate it … as you know it has … the bigger problem is that it can keep the terms and still get the bomb by simply running out the clock,” he added, saying Iran will keep the billions that America “foolishly” gave it.
“When I’m president, I will adopt a strategy that focuses on three things when it comes to Iran,” Trump began, laying out his strategy. “First, we will stand up to Iran’s aggressive push to destabilize and dominate the region. Iran is a very big problem and will continue to be … I know how to deal with trouble and believe me, that’s why I’m going to be elected president folks.”
“Iran is a problem in Iraq, a problem in Syria, a problem in Lebanon, a prolem in Yemen and will be a very, very major problem for Saudi Arabia. Literally, every day Iran provides more and better weapons to support their puppet states,” he stressed.
“Secondly, we will totally dismantle Iran’s global terror network, which is big and powerful, but not powerful like us. Iran has seated terror groups all over the world … perpetuated terror attacks in 25 different countries,” he said.
“Third, at the very least, we must enforce the terms of the previous deal to hold Iran totally accountable,” he concluded. “Iran has already, since the deal was in place, test fired ballistic missiles three times.”
Trump noted that those missiles were designed to intimidate Israel, to frighten Europe and someday, to reach the United States. “We’re not letting it happen…and we’re not letting it happen to Israel, believe me.”
The real-estate mogul said, “Painted on those missiles in both Hebrew and Farsi were the words, ‘Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth.’ You can forget that! What kind of demented minds write that in Hebrew?”
“Here’s another twisted part, testing these missiles does not even violate the horrible deal that we’ve made,” he added. “Those tests do violate the United Nations Security Council resolutions,” he said.
Trump said no one is doing anything about that yet, but “I promise, we will.”
The crowd responded with a standing ovation. “Which brings me to my next point, the utter weakness and incompetence of the United Nations.” Trump expanded. “The United Nations is not a friend of democracy. It is not a friend to freedom … even to the United States of America … where it has its home. It surely is not a friend to Israel.”
“Let me be clear, an agreement imposed by the United Nations would be a total and complete disaster” between Palestine and Israel, Trump added, vowing to use the power of veto if he is president to oppose any such resolution. He said a deal imposed by the UN “will only further delegitimize Israel,” adding, “further, it would reward Palestinian terrorism.”
“You don’t reward behavior like that. You cannot do it,” he stressed, adding, “You have to confront it.”
“The days of treating Israel like a second class citizen will end on day one,” when he is president, Trump promised. “When the United States stands with Israel, the chances of peace really rise.”
“That’s what will happen when Donald Trump is President of the United States,” he added. “We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.”
“We will send a clear signal that there is no daylight between America and our most reliable ally, the state of Israel.”
The crowd welcomed Trump and, as Breitbart London’s editor Raheem Kassam noted, there were no walkouts during the frontrunner’s speech.