Vice President Mike Pence addressed the AIPAC annual policy conference Sunday evening and reaffirmed the Trump administration's commitment to ensuring Israel's security. Giving renewed hope to pro-Israel advocates, Pence also said that President Trump is still "giving serious consideration to moving the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv [to Jerusalem]."
Approximately 18,000 gathered in D.C. to attend the conference and hear Pence's remarks. The Times of Israel summarizes the evening below:
The vice president also touched on three major themes of the administration’s foreign policy: strengthening the US-Israel relationship, preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear arsenal, and pursuing a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
“President Trump has made clear that America’s commitment to Israel’s defense is non-negotiable,” he said. “Not now, not ever.”
The commander in chief, Pence said, is “interested in finding an equitable and just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
He referenced the latest round of talks between Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt and an Israeli delegation, in which Greenblatt attempted to reach an understanding on settlements and create the conditions for negotiations to begin.
The vice president did not mention, however, the two-state solution as the outcome the administration would seek. The president himself has not explicitly endorsed that policy, although he also has not ruled it out.
“America will stand strong in the face of the leading state sponsor of terrorism,” Pence said. “This administration has put Iran on notice. America will no longer tolerate Iran’s attempts to destabilize the region and jeopardize Israel’s security.”
“Under President Trump,” he added, “America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.”
Pence also struck a chord that evoked a resonance for this crowd of spirited pro-Israel advocates. “Under President Trump, the United States will no longer allow the United Nations to be used as a forum for invective against Israel,” he said, to roaring applause.
AIPAC's official policy is to support the positions of the presidential administration in power, regardless of the political party to which that administration belongs. The issue, however, is that much of AIPAC's leadership and member-base lean decidedly liberal, hence there was little pushback (and often there was support) for the Obama administration's anti-Israel policies. It will be interesting to see how the lobbying organization works with current White House moving forward.
Pence's speech, in its entirety, can be viewed above.
