Rep. Duncan Hunter: 'I Will Never Abandon Israel'

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- "I can pledge this to you: If I should be elected president of the United States, I will never, never, never abandon Israel," emphatically announced Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., before enthused attendees of "A Night to Honor Israel" at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall at Northern Virginia Community College, Sunday night.

Hunter, an announced presidential candidate, immediately followed an impassioned plea from Rev. Jan Willem Van Der Hoven, who in his "Greetings from Israel" address declared that an American pull-out in Iraq would be tantamount to an abandonment of Israel, a nation surrounded by enemies in the Middle East. "Let's not trade oil for Jews!" he exclaimed.

For his part, Hunter did nothing to distance himself from the inflamed rhetoric, adding some of his own: "As a member of the United States Congress, I never supported giving up one inch of the state of Israel and that will always be my position!"

Hunter has been a Republican member of the House of Representatives since 1981 from California's 52nd congressional district in northern and eastern San Diego. A Vietnam veteran, he served in the 173rd Airborne and 75th Army Rangers. His son, Duncan D. Hunter, an Iraq war veteran, is currently a candidate for his congressional seat in 2008.

The senior Hunter became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in 2002. He formally announced his presidential candidacy in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Jan. 25, 2007.

Hunter zeroed in on a theme of a common threat faced by both the U.S. and Israel — incoming missiles tipped with engines of mass destruction, either nuclear or chemical.

"I can tell you — we will see offensive ballistic missiles aimed at the United States of America that will not fall harmlessly into the Sea of Japan or in the Pacific Ocean. They will have to be taken down," Hunter warned.

Citing rogue nations "charging down the path of nuclear weapons," being aided and abetted by those nations willing to sell military hardware, Hunter advised: "That means at some point the United States and Israel are going to have to stand together and defend against the incoming ballistic missiles."

Hunter recounted the clandestine attack by Israel in 1981 on the light-water nuclear materials testing reactor in Osirak, Iraq. It was crippled by Israeli aircraft in "Operation Opera" — a pre-emptive attack to prevent Saddam Hussein from using the reactor for the creation of nuclear weapons.

After the attack by the eight F-16 aircrafts, Hunter recalled, many world leaders publicly chastised the action as a terrible thing. "Then, they all walked into their offices, and I can tell you this, they closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief . . . because Israel had the courage that none of them had."

Last week, Hunter spearheaded a measure aimed at creating closer U.S. and Israeli defenses against ballistic missiles of the type that could be fired by Iran.

Part of a $504 billion defense spending bill passed last Thursday, the measure would redirect $205 million in DoD funds toward projects already underway in Israel — providing $25 million more for Arrow missile co-production and integration, $45 million for a U.S.-Israeli short-range missile defense system called "David's Sling" and $135 million to buy a Theater High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, fire unit.

All three projects involve interceptors designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of their flight paths.

In his Sunday night address, Hunter likened the current situation in the world with the challenged faced by America in the 1920s, when Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell "went to visit with a Republican Administration and said ‘we have to spend a lot of money on air power . . .'"

Today, Hunter said, we face a similar crisis – in the form of terrorists with technology.

"We are going to have to meet that technology with American technology and with Israeli technology - we are going to do it, and just as Winston Churchill said ‘never, never, never give up.'"

"what I don’t get is our government will stand by Israel, but we will not stand up for ourselves."

Bush and Sharon disagree over Israel's future
Wednesday June 27, 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,513410,00.html

President Bush Calls for New Palestinian Leadership
The Rose Garden
June 24, 2002
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020624-3.html
"So I challenge Israel to take concrete steps to support the emergence of a viable, credible Palestinian state."
[. . .]
"The United States, the international donor community and the World Bank stand ready to work with Palestinians on a major project of economic reform and development. The United States, the EU, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund are willing to oversee reforms in Palestinian finances, encouraging transparency and independent auditing."

Quartet Joint Statement
Summary
July 16, 2002: Text of a joint statement issued by the "Quartet" (United Nations, Russian Federation, the United States and the European Union) following their meeting in New York
[Document behind the link.]
http://europa-eu-un.org/articles/sk/article_1489_sk.htm
"The new international Task Force on Reform, which is comprised of representatives of the U.S., EU, UN Secretary General, Russia, Japan, Norway, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and which works under the auspices of the Quartet, will strive to develop and implement a comprehensive action plan for reform."

Most Americans Support Right of Jews to Live and Build in Judea-Samaria
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/927783/posts
June 10, 2003
"By a margin of nearly five to one, Americans oppose the Bush administration's demand to halt all further Jewish construction in Judea-Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza . . . The poll, carried out by John McLaughlin & Associates, surveyed a scientific sample of 1,000 American adults on May 21, 2003.

Sharon presses Putin to drop UN resolution on road map
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1013908/posts
4 November 2003

Rice: Israel Must Withdraw from More than Gaza and Samaria
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1333354/posts
February 1, 2005

President Bush Calls for New Palestinian Leadership
The Rose Garden
June 24, 2002
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020624-3.html
"The United States, the international donor community and the World Bank stand ready to work with Palestinians on a major project of economic reform and development. The United States, the EU, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund are willing to oversee reforms in Palestinian finances, encouraging transparency and independent auditing."

Quartet Joint Statement
Summary
July 16, 2002: Text of a joint statement issued by the "Quartet" (United Nations, Russian Federation, the United States and the European Union) following their meeting in New York
[Document behind the link.]
http://europa-eu-un.org/articles/sk/article_1489_sk.htm
"The new international Task Force on Reform, which is comprised of representatives of the U.S., EU, UN Secretary General, Russia, Japan, Norway, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and which works under the auspices of the Quartet, will strive to develop and implement a comprehensive action plan for reform."

...little more background material:

Rice: Israel Must Withdraw from More than Gaza and Samaria
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1333354/posts
February 1, 2005

Bush and Sharon disagree over Israel's future
Wednesday June 27, 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,513410,00.html

Sharon presses Putin to drop UN resolution on road map
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1013908/posts
4 November 2003

In 1967, the leaders of our various nations showed their vanity with UN Security Council Resolution 242. They again ignored the Mandate (binding world agreement on the Jewish Homeland) and demanded that Israel give land to the Arab nations. We can go back further than that, though. The "road map" is really not a new thing, but our leaders will go on saying that it was Israel's idea all along. The canard of blaming Israel in advance for its own destruction by other nations/religions goes back through a couple of thousand years of history.

2004 Republican Party Platform (see "Road Map")

US pressure prompts delay of [Israel’s] offensive (”We do not want escalations” - White House)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1680983/posts

Israel Asks U.S. to Ship Rockets With Wide Blast-State Department seeks to delay supply
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681771/posts

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spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~
The Nature Of Bruce ~

"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
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" ... It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world."—FReeper Retief
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."

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