Republicans Blast Democratic Platform for Dismissing Israel

[AmandasMom]

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/democr ... ode=FF63-1

Republicans Blast Democratic Platform for Dismissing Israel

Republicans on Tuesday were quick to jump on the Democrats’ 2012 platform for dropping calls for the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and for putting more emphasis on climate change than the economy.

Backing for gay marriage, abortion rights, and the closure of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay were also seen as easy targets for the GOP, which believes the platform could rebound on President Barack Obama at the ballot box.

George W. Bush’s White House press secretary Ari Fleischer made it clear he could not understand the Democrats’ decision to abandon the commitment to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “Given O’s troubles w Israel and Jewish vote, why on earth did Ds drop Jerusalem as capital from their platform?” he tweeted.

The Republican Jewish Coalition went further, calling the platform “the most radically unsupportive statement of policy on Israel by a major U.S, party since [its] founding,” in a tweet.

In 2008, the Democratic platform included the words “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel,” saying “It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths,” but the city does not even rate a mention this time around. The platform merely says that the Democrats have “an unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security” and will do everything it can to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

Conservative commentator Jennifer Rubin, writing in her Washington Post column said there is even more missing this year. “In 2008, Obama committed 'to isolate Hamas until it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and abides by past agreements.' That language is gone in the 2012 platform,” she wrote.

The Republican National Committee pointed out the differences between the tone of the Democratic platform and its own. “'Obama' is mentioned once in the Republican platform, ‘but ‘Romney’ is mentioned 22 times in the Democrat platform,” it tweeted.

The RNC also drew attention to the fact that the platform makes no mention of health care premiums, nor does it make reference to balancing the budget.

“Democrat Party Platform mentions ‘climate change’ 18 times. Deficit (only) 9 times” the RNC also tweeted.

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