(ConservativeSense.com) – In a daring move that diverges from much of the Republican Party, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told the Free Beacon he would cut off aid to Israel by 2028 if elected to the White House.
Ramaswamy’s position on sending Israel over $3 billion annually seems to be shifting. Left-wing activists have been lobbying for decades to end U.S. military funding for the Middle Eastern state. Ramaswamy’s stance isn’t as hardline as theirs, as he wants to continue to help Israel remain secure, but he now believes the military funding should cease after the current congressional aid package expires in 2028.
Ramaswamy argued that it won’t be necessary anymore to send billions of dollars to Israel for military support because, in his first year as president, he will successfully negotiate peace treaties between the Jewish state and neighboring Arab states. He said a “true mark of success” for both the U.S. and Israel would be getting to 2028 with Israel “so strongly standing on its own two feet” and “integrated” into the rest of the Middle Eastern economy and “security infrastructure” that the “same level of historical aid” from America wouldn’t be required and depended upon.
The biotech entrepreneur received backlash from conservatives for his stance, such as Foundation for Defense of Democracies fellow Hussain Abduk-Hussain, who said Ramaswamy’s stance “doesn’t make sense” to him. Mark Levin, a conservative pundit, said Israel is needed “as a counterweight to Iran, Syria,” and “terrorist organizations” and accused Ramaswamy of being “oblivious” to the needs of the U.S. to maintain their own security by means of supporting Israel.
This isn’t the first foreign policy move Ramaswamy has received backlash for as of late. He recently said he would not move to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion if the U.S. achieves “semiconductor independence,” something he would also work toward if he wins the White House in 2024.
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