US Republican presidential candidates rush to line up behind Israel in Gaza war

WASHINGTON – The five US Republican presidential candidates on Wednesday’s debate stage gave staunch support to Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.

They rejected pleas to rein in the conflict and called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to destroy Hamas.

Israel says the group killed some 1,400 people and took more than 240 hostages during an attack in the south of the country on Oct 7.

Israeli forces have killed more than 10,500 Palestinians in Gaza in their reprisal for that incident, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida said he wanted Israel to “finish the job once and for all with these butchers, Hamas”.

He denounced critics of Israel’s invasion, saying he was “sick of hearing other people blame Israel for defending itself”.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina said there must be “no daylight” between the United States and Israel on the war.

Ms Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador, said Israel must destroy Hamas and the US must provide Israel with “whatever they need, whenever they need it”.

“The last thing we need to do is to tell Israel what to do,” Ms Haley said.

“The only thing we should be doing is supporting them in eliminating Hamas.”

Former governor Chris Christie of New Jersey set himself apart from Mr DeSantis, Ms Haley and Mr Scott by criticising Israel’s leaders and intelligence agencies for failing to anticipate the Hamas attack.

His comments mirrored those of former US president Donald Trump.

“They failed here, and they failed the people of the state of Israel,” Mr Christie said.

He added that the US would have to work with Israel to degrade Hamas and ensure “something like this can’t happen to kill 1,400 individuals again”.

But only Mr Vivek Ramaswamy, the youngest and the most isolationist candidate onstage, struck a different note on the US’ involvement in the war.

He criticised previous US military operations in the Middle East.

“I want to be careful to avoid making the mistakes from the neocon establishment of the past,” Mr Ramaswamy said.

“Corrupt politicians in both parties spent trillions, killed millions, made billions for themselves in places like Iraq and Afghanistan – fighting wars that sent thousands of our sons and daughters, people my age, to die in wars that did not advance anyone’s interest, adding US$7 trillion (S$9.5 trillion) to our national debt.”

He then pivoted from Israel’s war to domestic immigration policy, suggesting that he expected Israel to destroy Hamas on its own while he attacked people trying to immigrate to the US.

“I would tell him to smoke those terrorists on his southern border,” Mr Ramaswamy said of Mr Netanyahu.

“And I’ll tell him as president of the United States, I’ll be smoking the terrorists on our southern border. That’s his responsibility. This is our responsibility.” NYTIMES