US Republican presidential candidates trade blows over Israel

In a series of barbs, jabs and rigidly pro-Israel rhetoric, the Republican presidential candidates on Thursday spent an extensive portion of their 10th debate arguing over US policy in the Middle East.

Billionaire Donald Trump, the frontrunner, sought to be perceived as neutral regarding Israel-Palestine.

“As president, there's nothing that I would rather do (than) to bring peace to Israel and its neighbours generally," he said. "And I think it serves no purpose to say that you have a good guy and a bad guy.”

“I am very pro-Israel, very pro, more than anybody on this stage. But it doesn't do any good to start demeaning the neighbours, because I would love to do something with regard to negotiating peace, finally, for Israel and for their neighbors,” he added.

Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas, reiterated his unwavering pro-Israel stance while attacking Trump.

“Let me be clear. If I'm president, America will stand unapologetically with the nation of Israel,” he said. “I would note, missing from Donald's answer was anything he has done in his nearly 70 years of living defending Israel.”

"When you have terrorists strapping dynamite around their chest, exploding and murdering innocent women and children, they are not equivalent to the IDF (Israeli army) officers protecting Israel. And I will not pretend that they are."

Another top candidate, Marco Rubio, chimed in by asking the New York businessman if he would “negotiate with terrorists”.

“But the position you've taken is an anti-Israel position. And here's why. Because you cannot be an honest broker in a dispute between two sides in which one of the sides is constantly acting in bad faith,” he said.

Trump lashed back by claiming the politicians on the stage were “all talk, no action”.

“There is nobody on this stage that has done more for Israel than I have. Nobody. You might say, you might talk, you're politicians, all talk, no action,” the billionaire businessman said.

Later, retired neurosurgeon Dr Ben Carson made an analogy suggesting Israel was like the US's "child".

"We can always be fair to other people, but, you know, it's like when you have a child, you know, you want to be fair to all the children around but you have a special attention for your own child."

The candidates, unsurprisingly, did not address any Palestinian grievences over the occupation of territory or disproportionate use of military force, and critics were quick to push back against the staunchly pro-Israel rhetoric.

On the Syrian ceasefire proposed by Russia and the United States, all the candidates expressed doubt about its effectiveness.

“It’s not working and the countries aren't agreeing to it and the rebels aren't agreeing and Syria is not agreeing. So it's a meaningless ceasefire,” said Trump.

“We're certainly hopeful that the violence will cease, but there's reason to be highly sceptical. Russia has enhanced its position because of Obama's weakness in the Middle East, weakness in Syria,” added Cruz.

On the conflicts in Libya and Iraq, Trump said that he’d rather have Moammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein back in power.

“We would be so much better off if Gaddafi were in charge right now. If these politicians went to the beach and didn't do a thing, and we had Saddam Hussein and if we had Gaddafi in charge, instead of having terrorism all over the place, we'd be - at least they killed terrorists, all right?”