Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that Palestinians “have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace,” according to video footage released this week by Mother Jones magazine.
At a private fundraiser in Florida in May, Romney elaborated that Palestinians are disinterested in peace for “political purposes” and are “committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel,” according to the footage.
Romney said putting pressure on Israel to resolve the conflict is “the worst idea in the world.” Regarding proposals for a Palestinian state in which a “border between Israel and the West Bank is right next to Tel Aviv,” he said Iran “would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did through Lebanon, what they did near Gaza.”
“The Iranians would want to bring missiles and armament into the West Bank and potentially threaten Israel,” Romney said.
Given the Palestinians’ attitude about Israel, Romney called peace “almost unthinkable to accomplish.” According to reports, Mother Jones obtained the video from James Carter IV, President Jimmy Carter’s grandson, who leaked the footage to exact revenge on Romney for criticizing Carter.
“James: This is extraordinary. Congratulations! Papa,” Jimmy Carter wrote his grandson in an email reacting to the video, the Associated Press reported.
