Mitt Romney said Palestinians have “no interest whatsoever” in achieving peace in the Middle East, questioning the feasibility of the proposed two-state solution in Israel at a May fundraiser in Florida.
In a video of the fundraiser, Romney is heard saying he viewed Palestinians as “not wanting to see peace anyways” and “committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel.”
Because of these “thorny issues,” Romney said, “there’s just no way” that a two-state solution could work.
“I’m torn by two perspectives in this regard,” Romney said. “One is the one which I’ve had for some time, which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.”
Romney said a two-state solution would enable Middle Eastern regimes hostile to Israel, like Iran, to use the Palestinian state as a base to threaten Israel with weapons and destruction.
Romney also said Iranian mullahs could blackmail Americans with dirty bomb threats if Iran is allowed to get nuclear material. Romney imagined a scenario in which a crazed Mullah gave the terror group Hezbollah nuclear material they could carry to “Chicago, or some other place” and demand America “stand down” if the country did not want a dirty bomb to explode within its borders.
“So we really don’t have any option but to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon,” Romney said.
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