BICOM

The frontrunners to become the next President of the United States yesterday outlined their support for Israel and related policies as they addressed the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

US Vice President Joe Biden already addressed the 18,000 gathering on Sunday, pledging continued cooperation with Israel, including a generous new military aid package. Yesterday the presidential hopefuls took to the stage. Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton said that “I believe we must take our alliance to the next level” and pledged that “One of the first things I’ll do as president is to invite the prime minister to visit the White House.” She also said “As president I will make a firm commitment to assure Israel maintains its qualitative military edge.”

Clinton then took aim at Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for his perceived ambiguity on Israel. Parroting Trump’s previous comments, she said someone can’t be trusted who “says he’s neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday and who knows what on Wednesday.”

Trump himself later addressed the conference, setting out to remove any doubts over his commitment to Israel. He said, “The Palestinians must come to the table knowing that the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable.” He added that the Palestinians must be both “willing and able to stop the terror” and “willing to accept that Israel is a Jewish state.” Trump declared that dismantling the nuclear deal with Iran would be his “number one priority” and committed to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, “the eternal capital of the Jewish people.”

Although Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders did not address AIPAC, Trump’s closest challenger Ted Cruz told the audience that “As President… America will stand unapologetically with the nation of Israel.”

Israel’s opposition leader, Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog also took to the stage and repeated his conviction that “We have to disengage from the Palestinians. This is the main challenge facing Israel.”