'Standing by Israel does not mean with military and intelligence cooperation alone,' says Romney. Mitt: No more 'distance' from Israel

JERUSALEM – Taking his campaign to the Holy Land, Mitt Romney Sunday made the case to Israelis and Jewish voters in America that he would take a harder line with Iran and be a more steadfast ally to Israel than President Barack Obama.

Romney, who pledged not to criticize the president while on his week-long trip abroad, drew only implicit contrasts with Obama in a speech at dusk here in front of a sweeping valley and the Old City’s Tower of David. But the Republican’s criticism was unmistakable and the mix of conservative Israelis and Romney donors in the audience repeatedly responded with applause.


( PHOTOS: Mitt Romney in Israel)

“It is sometimes said that those who are the most committed to stopping the Iranian regime from securing nuclear weapons are reckless and provocative and inviting war,” Romney said from a podium that featured linked American and Israeli flags and the words “Freedom and Democracy. “The opposite is true. We are the true peacemakers. History teaches with force and clarity that when the world’s most despotic regimes secure the world’s most destructive weapons, peace often gives way to oppression, to violence, or to devastating war.”

That was almost certainly a reference to Obama’s March speech to AIPAC where he decried “loose talk of war.”

And two days after Obama held an Oval Office event to sign legislation increasing military aid to Israel, Romney took another barely veiled swipe at the administration which at times has had a frosty relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

“Standing by Israel does not mean with military and intelligence cooperation alone,” Romney said. “We cannot stand silent as those who seek to undermine Israel, voice their criticisms. And we certainly should not join in that criticism. Diplomatic distance in public between our nations emboldens Israel’s adversaries.”

Indeed, Romney’s trip here - the leg of his foreign sojourn that came directly after his gaffe-plagued stop in London for the Summer Olympics - seemed geared largely toward signaling to both Netanyahu and Israel-minded voters in America that there would be no such frost toward Jerusalem in a Romney administration.

The former Massachusetts governor, once a co-worker with Netanyahu at the Boston Consulting Group, met privately with the Israeli leader in the morning.

“We have a friendship that spans the years,” Romney said as he sat side-by-side with his old colleague.

Later, at the start of his address, the GOP nominee again spoke warmly of the man known here as “Bibi”

“Ours is not an alliance based only on shared interest but also on enduring shared values,” Romney said of America and Israel. “In those shared values one of the strongest voices is that of your Prime Minister, my friend Benjamin Netanyahu. I met with him earlier this morning and I look forward to my family joining his this evening as they observe the close of this fast day of Tisha B’Av Day.”

Romney’s campaign wasted no time in releasing a picture of the Romneys and Netanyahus grinning and standing together before the traditional meal at the end of a day of mourning.

And if the Republican left little doubt about his ardor for Netanyahu, the prime minister was glad to return the favor.

Despite recently telling Vanity Fair that he didn’t know Romney well, Netanyahu seemed to be auditioning for a future diplomatic buddy pic.

“We’ve known each other for many decades, since you were a young man, but for some reason, you still look young,” he said, prompting a laugh from Romney. “You’ve been a personal friend of mine and a strong friend of the state of Israel, and that’s why it’s a pleasure to welcome you here.”

And, in something of a rebuke to Obama, Netanyahu also used the meeting with the presumptive GOP nominee to implicitly criticize the president’s preferred approach to dealing with Iran.

“We have to be honest and say that all the sanctions and diplomacy so far have not set back the Iranian program by one iota,” said the prime minister.

The moment was reminscent, if less gushing, of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy all but endorsing Obama four years ago when the then-senator came to Paris during a similar summer foreign tour.

Not all of the politics here were veiled in diplo-speak, though. A leader of Republicans Abroad Israel came to the candidate’s speech with a fistful of voter registration forms for the Americans in attendance.

And Romney’s entire visit to this ancient city was used by his campaign as something of a donor reward. One high-dollar giver joined the candidate when he trekked to the Western Wall, a Jewish holy site in the Old City, and a handful of others trailed just behind. The same contributors and a few dozen more were rewarded with front-row seats later when Romney delivered his speech. Romney is to hold a fundraiser Monday morning at the historic King David hotel, which has been all but taken over by Romney’s entourage, the media and well-heeled Republicans from the U.S.

The biggest name in American politics this year besides Romney and Obama was among those present.

Las Vegas casino magnate and multi-million dollar-Republican donor Sheldon Adelson caused a stir at the Romney speech when he arrived in a motorized wheelchair with his wife, Miriam.

In a brief interview with POLITICO, Adelson cracked wise when asked why he was in Israel for Romney’s visit.

“I came to get a shwarma sandwich, what do you mean?” he said.

He later gave Romney’s speech high marks, but otherwise declined to talk to reporters.

Adelson’s candidate, also, spent much of the day trying to avoid making news.

After Romney’s top Middle East adviser, Dan Senor, said in the morning that the Republican would “respect” an Israeli decision to unilaterally strike Iran, Romney offered an even vaguer, and therefore more cautious, answer about his response to Israeli attempting to destroy Tehran’s nuclear facilities.

“I’ll use my own words – and that is I respect the right of Israel to defend itself and we stand with Israel,” Romney said in an interview with CBS.

Where he was more clear was on the long-running debate over Israel’s capital.

Beginning his remarks, Romney said: “It is a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.”

In a CNN interview, he signaled support for moving the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“I would only want to do so and to select the timing in accordance with the government of Israel,” Romney said.

The candidate spent the bulk of his day meeting in private with senior Israeli officials, but also met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

But the brief portion of that exchange that reporters were allowed to hear included no talk about the Middle East peace process, the Palestinian right of return or any such contentious topic.

Instead, the two were only heard bantering about the Olympics.