Pence says US seeks equitable and just solution to conflict
AIPAC president thanks Trump administration for a ‘warm embrace of Israel’
WASHINGTON – The White House seeks a lasting, comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, US Vice President Mike Pence said on Sunday night.
Speaking for the first time before AIPAC’s annual policy conference, Pence told a crowd of 18,000 people that President Donald Trump is intent on pursuing peace in the world’s most complex region. There would “undoubtedly have to be comprises” for such a peace, Pence said, but “President Trump will never compromise the safety and security of the Jewish State of Israel.”
“We pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all who call her home,” Pence told the crowd. “President Trump and I stand without apology for Israel, and we always will.”
He spoke before a friendly audience, after the president of AIPAC, Lillian Pinkus, thanked him and his administration for offering a “warm embrace of Israel in these early days of this administration.”
The vice president spoke intimately of his Christian faith, which he says has brought him and his family close to the Land of Israel, a country he has come to know well over recent years as a member of Congress.
“President Trump is committed to forging a lasting peace in the Middle East,” said Pence, who vowed that the United Nations would no longer be used as a “forum for invective” against the Jewish state.
Pence became a prominent administration official for the Jewish community when he was the first senior member to take a stand against antisemitic vandalism at the nation’s Jewish cemeteries. In his speech, he said he was “never more proud” of his boss than when he condemned antisemitism at the very top of his address to a joint session of Congress.
“President Donald Trump is a man of his word, and he’s a man of action. For the first time in a long time, America has a president who will stand with our allies and stand up to our enemies,” Pence said.
“The world will know this – America stands with Israel,” he added.