first task is to keep the people of israel safe. and israel s needs are truly unique as i ve seen myself. in past trips i ve visited villages near the blue line. i ve walked through israeli homes devastated by hezbollah rockets. i ve stood and met with children who simply want to grow up free from fear. and flying in today i saw again how israel security can be measured in mere miles in minutes. as president, i ve therefore made it clear, america s commitment to the security of the state of israel as a solemn obligation and the security of israel is nonnegotiatable. today our military and intelligence personnel cooperate more closely than ever before. we conduct more joint exercises and training than ever before. we re providing more security assistance and advanced technology to israel than ever
people with almost every conventional weapon in his arsenal including scud missiles and we have been clear that the use of chemical weapons against the syrian people would be a serious and tragic mistake. we also share israel s grave concern about the transfer of chemical or other weapons systems to terrorists. such as hezbollah, that might be used against israel. the assad regime must understand that they will be held accountable for the use of chemical weapons or their transfer to terrorists. and finally we continued our close consultation on iran. we agree that a nuclear armed iran would be a threat to the region, a threat to the world and potentially an existential threat to israel. and we agree on our goal. we do not have a policy of containment when it comes to a nuclear iran. our policy is to prevent iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. we prefer to resolve this
defenses. they want to know who will object, and who will look the other way. my message to the people of israel and the leaders of iraq is one and the same. i will not look away. and neither will my country. he met with benjamin netanyahu who threw his support behind romney and say that sanctions against iran have not worked, in his words, one iota. perhaps the highlight of the trip occurred earlier today when mitt romney and mrs. romney visited the western wall. it is one of the most sacred sites in the jewish faith. and it was received well by orthodox jewish-americans who i talked to earlier today. they told me, in their words, president obama does not get it. mitt romney does. candy? jim, while we await to see mitt romney take to the micropho microphone, the mayor is introducing him. i want to ask you, we know here at home that the political audience that mitt romney is hoping to reach are american jewish voters as well as evangelical christians who have a strong tie t
he said that he believed iran was getting closer and closer to trying to obtain nuclear wepts and united states must lead the effort from keeping iran from being able to obtain any kind of nuclear weaponry and also that he backed israel if israel would decide that it needed to strike iran to protect itself. with hezbollah rockets aimed at israel from the north and hamas rockets aimed from the south. with iran bent on nuclear arms, america s vocal and demonstrative commitment to the defense of israel is even more critical. whenever the security of israel is most in doubt, america s commitment to israel must be most secure. now, he said that the security of israel is also vital to the national security of the united states. you can see here him really making a push and trying to get not only the israelis who are here, and you can hear them clappi clapping, but also the jewish voters back at home how important he believes the israeli/united nations is. we know about the hi
kelly: heather? heather: governor mitt romney arriving in israel, part of his first overseas tour as the presumtive republican candidate for president. he s are images of mitt and ann romney arriving a short time ago. tomorrow the governor is meeting a long-time friend, israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. just days ago, president obama announced additional defense funding for the jewish state, a move that some critics say was timed to upstage the governor s trip. molly henneberg is live for us in washington with more on all of this. hi, molly. hi. the president announced more money, $70 million more, in funding to help expand an israeli antimissile defense system called iron dome, designed to shield the jewish state from hezbollah rockets. israel is very fearful of a nuclear attack by iran and governor mitt romney likely will try to make the case on this trip that he would be tougher with iran than president obama.