Reeling from criticism of his Britain visit and seemingly operating under the assumption that the “winner” of the foreign policy debate will be whoever presents himself as a bigger shill for Israel, former Governor Mitt Romney today sought to promote Iran’s civilian nuclear program as a Holocaust-level threat to the entire planet.

Terming Iran’s nuclear “capabilities” an “incomparable” threat, Romney insisted he would endorse any measures taken by Israel against them, adding that he believes it is a moral imperative to stop Iran from acquiring any nuclear program at all.

Using the term “capabilities” instead of “weapons” isn’t an attempt to confuse the debate in this case, but rather an effort to broaden the scope of what the US considers unacceptable for Iran to possess. Technically speaking, a large number of non-nuclear weapons nations have nuclear “capabilities,” and even if Iran continued perfectly legally under the nuclear NPT with its civilian program they could be accused of such a capability merely for generating electricity and producing medical isotopes.

Moving from railing against Iran to touring a city, Gov. Romney declared Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital, while pledging to “always stand with Israel” on the question of Israel. Though Israel also maintains that Jerusalem is its “eternal and undivided” capital, the fact that it includes considerable occupied territory has left this a disputed matter, with even the US putting its official embassy in Tel Aviv.

Romney’s declaration was quickly condemned by top Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat, who warned that the US election should not be at the expense of the two state solution, adding that Romney was “rewarding occupation” with his comments. The PA has insisted that occupied East Jerusalem will be the capital of a Palestinian state.