Trump says he won’t take sides in Israel, Palestine conflict

“I would say if you can do that deal you can do any deal”, he added. Jeb Bush has bragged about his brother’s policies with Israel and said that he would not pressure Israel back into peace negotiations until Palestine fulfilled certain pre-conditions, including not “teaching their children to hate Israelis”.

For any other Republican candidate, taking a neutral position on Israel-a stance that could push away voters, donors, and support of the party establishment-would be political suicide.

“Let me be sort of a neutral guy”, Trump said. But of all agreements – I would say if you can do that deal, you can do any deal. In an hour-long town hall on MSNBC devoted exclusively to the NY billionaire, Trump fielded a question from an audience member and a follow-up by anchor Joe Scarborough by saying he didn’t “want to get into” which party is at fault. “It’s possible it’s not makeable because don’t forget, it has to last”. You understand, a lot of people have gone down in flames trying to make that deal. “Probably the toughest deal of all, but I’m going to give it a shot”.

Commenting on Trump’s remarks, Aaron Keyak, co-founder of Bluelight Strategies, said he finds it fascinating that Trump “seems to be so reckless on every issue besides Israel”. And no matter how confident he is in his own abilities to negotiate, bringing about a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians is nothing like negotiating for a property or a building. A lot of people say an agreement can’t be made, which is OK. I mean, sometimes agreements can’t be made.

“You know, you have both sides, really, but one side in particular growing up learning that these are the worst people these people are the worst people, etc. etc.”, he said.

Though he wouldn’t reveal his biases, Trump reiterated what a “very prominent Israeli” told him about the roots of the conflict.

When asked which side he would blame for the conflicts, he demurred. On the book, Trump had written, according to people who saw the book and spoke with the New York Times, a note to Sheldon that “no one will be a bigger friend to Israel than me!”

Yet it was just over two months ago that Trump questioned Israel’s commitment to peace and questioned its willingness to make sacrifices while letting the Palestinians off scot free. In 2003, Democratic candidate Howard Dean was heavily criticized for saying he wouldn’t take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and later had to clarify that he would not end the United States’ “special relationship with Israel”.