GOP candidates woo Jewish activists, slam Obama’s Mideast policy
Republican presidential contenders took a brief respite from canvassing early battleground states Wednesday to come here to court Jewish activists and donors, with Newt Gingrich reveling in his newfound status as a front-runner and Rick Perry trying to clarify his stance on aid to Israel.
Gingrich was bathed in applause from the crowd at a forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition.
In the morning, he spoke at a gathering of conservative activists in Virginia before appearing at the forum, where he, like the five other candidates in attendance, denounced the Obama administration’s Middle East policy.
Gingrich caused a stir at the forum by pledging to name John R. Bolton, the outspoken former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as his secretary of State should he win the presidency. He also promised to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
He brushed aside criticism of his recent proposal that children of impoverished families work as janitors and other menial jobs to earn money.
If “people learn the culture of work and learn the culture of saving and learn the idea of value over time, we just made this country dramatically more conservative. And so the left goes nuts,” he said.
Perry, in the meantime, tried to paper over remarks made last month during a debate on foreign policy in South Carolina where he said that every nation that received aid from the United States would have to start at “zero” and make a case for U.S. support, including Israel.
On Wednesday, Perry said he would increase U.S. assistance to Israel, not reduce it.
“America long ago ended the traditional foreign aid to Israel,” he said. “Strategic defensive aid is what we will continue to be focused on. And strategic aid in all forms under a Perry administration will increase to Israel.”
Mitt Romney, who was warmly received by the crowd and who enjoys the support of prominent Jewish donors in the Northeast, criticized Obama for adopting a foreign policy of “appeasement” that “betrays a lack of faith in America.”
Kim Geiger and Paul West in the Washington bureau contributed to this report.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
