Rand Paul: No Friend of American Jews and Israel

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Senator Rand Paul and Israel Senator Paul has repeatedly attacked aid to Israel * January 27, 2011- Senator Paul introduced a bill in the Senate to end all foreign aid, including aid to Israel: Interviewer Wolf Blitzer then asked about foreign assistance, asking if he wanted to end "all foreign aid." Paul said yes, and Blitzer asked him about aid to Israel. "Well, I think what you have to do is you have to look," Paul said. "When you send foreign aid, you actually [send] quite a bit to Israel's enemies. Islamic nations around Israel get quite a bit of foreign aid, too. "You have to ask yourself, are we funding an arms race on both sides? I have a lot of sympathy and respect for Israel as a democratic nation, as a, you know, a fountain of peace and a fountain of democracy within the Middle East." Blitzer pressed, "End all foreign aid including the foreign aid to Israel as well. Is that right?" he asked. Paul answered, "Yes." * February 4, 2011- Senator Paul described aid to Israel as “welfare” and pushed to cut it. * September 15, 2011- Senator Paul introduced an amendment that would have severely cut foreign aid, which includes aid to Israel. * January 7, 2013- The Jerusalem Post reported that Senator Paul would like to see “gradual” cuts to Israel’s aid: [Senator Paul] said he favored a gradual reduction of US foreign aid, which he said stands at approximately $30 billion a year. About $3b. goes to Israel annually in military aid, 74 percent of which must be spent in the US. ‘I’m all for gradualism,’ he said. ‘I would start a little more quickly with those who are enemies of Israel, and enemies of the US. I would like to see their aid end more quickly. With regards to Israel, it could be a gradual phenomenon.’ * January 17, 2013- Senator Paul said on a conference call: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he does not favor immediate cuts to defense assistance to Israel and favors intelligence and development cooperation, but he believes that Israel would ultimately benefit from economic independence from the United States….

‘Something I would be in favor of would not be immediate, dramatic or draconian, it would be evolving,’ he said of his favoring cuts in assistance to Israel. ‘I’m for an independent, strong Israel that is not a client state and not a reliant state.’

Paul is a major opponent of all foreign aid The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition -- which includes AIPAC – opposes any cuts in foreign aid assistance[February 9, 2011]. * A profile of Senator Paul in Politico noted that Paul was building his political brand by using his PAC, RAND PAC, to attack foreign aid [October 17, 2012]: Over the past week, Paul used his political committee -- RAND PAC -- to launch television ads in the Ohio, West Virginia and Florida Senate races, hammering incumbent Democrats on foreign aid. That offensive will intensify in the coming weeks, Paul advisers said, with an additional two or three Senate races on the Republican’s target list. When Paul’s leadership PAC reports its fundraising haul later this month, a Paul strategist said RAND PAC will have more than $1 million in the bank…. * Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin noted that Senator Paul could use his seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to call for cutting all foreign aid [January 3, 2013]: Replacing them will be Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rand Paul (R-KY), and newly minted Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ). Paul has been a thorn in the State Department’s side since he came to the Senate, pushing for drastic cuts in U.S. foreign aid and holding up several State Department nominees. His new SFRC perch will allow him to ramp up those activities.

Paul Refuses to Rule Out Containing a Nuclear-Armed Iran President Obama and his Administration have ruled out containment and are committed to prevention. * Senator Paul was the only “no” vote on a Senate Resolution ruling out containing a nucleararmed Iran [September 23, 2012]: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who cast the only negative vote, had spoken out against the resolution as an excuse for the use of military force. * February 6, 2013- During a speech at the Heritage Foundation, Senator Paul did not rule out containment:

Understandably, no one wants to imagine what happens if Iran develops nuclear weapons. But if we don’t have at least some of that discussion now, the danger exists that war is the only remedy. No one -- myself included -- wants to see a nuclear Iran. Iran does need to know that all the options are on the table. But we should not preemptively announce that diplomacy or containment will never be an option. In a recent Senate resolution, the bipartisan consensus stated that we will never contain Iran should they get a nuclear weapon. In the debate I made the point that while I think it unwise to declare that we will contain a nuclear Iran -- we should denounce that -- I think it’s equally unwise to say we will never contain a nuclear Iran. War should never be the only option. Let me be clear, I don’t want to Iran to have nuclear weapons. But I also don’t want to decide with certainty that war is the only option.