WASHINGTON -- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented herself as both a staunch defender of Israels security and a supporter of continued negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program in a wide-ranging conversation about foreign policy Friday.
The relationship between the United States and Israel is solid, and will remain solid, and will be part of our foreign policy and our domestic concerns, our values, ideals, forever, Clinton said in response to a question about the sometimes fractious relationship between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She called the relationship between the two countries "mature" and said differences between the two leaders were "honest."
Clinton spoke at an intimate dinner at the eleventh annual Saban Forum, with billionaire Israeli-American media and entertainment mogul Haim Saban. His forum, in partnership with the Brookings Institution, brings together government officials, policymakers and business leaders each year. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have made regular appearances at the Saban Forum, which isnt surprising given that the billionaire has donated millions to the Clintons' philanthropic foundation and was a key player in her first presidential campaign.
As Clinton inches closer to a possible bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, her sit-down with Saban allowed her to stress her support for Israel in front of a crowd filled with members of Netanyahus now-dissolving coalition government, as well as leaders of the opposition parties.
Saban has said that he is willing to give as much as needed to get Clinton elected and that he would pitch in with full might because her presidency is a big dream of his. Yet Clinton's conversation with Saban avoided directly addressing the 2016 question, as the two coyly danced around the subject by talking about her new grandchild.
The billionaire, who was born in Israel and calls himself a one-issue guy when it comes to his politics, has said that he considers a nuclear Iran an existential danger to Israel. He is, however, less conservative than one of his billionaire political donor counterparts, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, and has voiced his support for a Palestinian state.
Clinton, who received flack at 2012s Saban forum for saying that Israel had displayed a lack of generosity and a lack of empathy toward Palestinians, reiterated her support for a two-state solution to the conflict, but avoided chastising Israel for West Bank settlement construction, as she has in the past.
There is a necessary imperative to continue to try to achieve a resolution between Israel and the Palestinians, she said. The two state solution remains an important and, I would argue, essential concept to bring people together around.
Israels government will go to elections next year in an especially fraught period for the stalled peace process. Clinton acknowledged those tensions for those in the room, and beyond, who maintain that Israel cannot relinquish its occupation of the West Bank for security reasons.
Now Im well aware of everything going on and the increasing tensions in the region, in Israel, in the West Bank to say nothing of the continuing aggressive behavior from Hamas coming out of Gaza, she said. But the absence of negotiations leaves a vacuum that gets filled by problems, bad actors, threats, other kinds of behavior that are not good for Israel and not good for the Palestinians.
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