Jeb Bush Calls W. His Role Model on Israel

Image by Getty Images

By JTA December 3, 2015

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush cited his brother, former President George W. Bush, as the person he turns to most for guidance on the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Bush made the comment Thursday at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s candidates’ forum in Washington, D.C., in response to a question about the qualities he would look for in a secretary of state.

“And we all love him,” said the RJC official who posed the original question.

Bush, who had been described as “low energy” by the GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, barely an hour before, was anything but in his appearance at the forum.

Criticizing the Iran deal as a “horrible agreement,” Bush promised to rebuild the sanctions regime.

“We have to be engaged in this in a meaningful way,” Bush said, “and our friends need to know we have their back. Allies need to know we have their back.”

Along with many of the other candidates who appeared at the forum Thursday, Bush promised to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem on day one of his presidency. Bush underscored that an essential foreign policy goal would be to “restore the ruptured relationship with Israel. That has to be first.”

Bush also emphasized his support for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, declared “no moral equivalence” between terrorist attacks on Israel and Israel’s efforts at self-defense, and vowed to use American law enforcement to block the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO