Romney: Obama "threw Israel under the bus"

Jan 27, 2012, 4:44 GMT

Washington - Mitt Romney, one of two main rivals for the Republican Party presidential nomination, Thursday charged that US President Barack Obama has undermined Israel with his Middle East policy and thrown it 'under the bus.'

Newt Gingrich, the other leading contender, repeated his past assertions that the Palestinians are an 'invented people' and declared that on the first day he is president, he would direct the State Department 'to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send the signal we're with Israel.'

The two men faced off in the latest debate ahead of the primary election on Tuesday in Florida, a state with a large population of Jewish retirees.

The men were responding to a question from the audience about how they would help 'bring peace to Palestine and Israel.'

Romney said that the lack of peace was due to groups like Hamas, 'who have as their intent the elimination of Israel.' But he also blamed Obama for castigating Israel for building settlements.

'I think he threw Israel under the bus with regards to defining the '67 borders as the starting point of negotiations,' Romney said. 'I think he has time and time again shown distance from Israel, and that has created, in my view, a greater sense of aggression on the part of the Palestinians.'

Gingrich insisted that the Palestinians were 'an invention of the late 1970s,' before which 'they were Arabs.'

He agreed with Romney on other points, adding: 'The leadership in Hamas says not a single Jew will remain. Well, you're not having a peace negotiation, then. This is war by another form.'

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