Ryan: Obama Admin Treats 'Israel with Indifference Bordering on Contempt'

Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan considers Israel “our best ally” in the Middle East and asserts that the Obama administration’s treatment of the nation has signaled the opposite.

Speaking at the Values Voter Summit on Friday, Ryan said the Obama admin treats “Israel with indifference bordering on contempt.” Obama’s critics on this issue cite his administration’s hesitance to stand with Israel should they strike Iran, their refusal to set red lines that might prevent a strike from being necessary in the first place, and Obama’s recent decision to meet with David Letterman instead of Israeli PM Netanyahu as evidence of this indifference.

Ryan expanded his critique to other facets of Obama’s foreign policy. He cited the protests and violence against America currently spreading through Libya, Yemen, and Egypt, “the slaughter of dissidents in Syria,” and he highlighted Iran’s continued push for nuclear weapons. 

Ryan claimed that because of Obama’s weak approach, “Iran is four years closer to gaining a nuclear weapon” than it was in 2008.

Ryan lamented that the Western world sees protesters, rogue dictators, and embassies ablaze, but the one thing “we do not see is steady, consistent American leadership.”