(New York) – The moderators of the vice presidential debate started Tuesday night with an acknowledgment of the crises around the world and posed the first question to the vice president hopefuls on if they would support or oppose Israel preemptively striking Iran.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz skirted around a direct answer to the question and seemed to stumble over his words at first.
“Keep in mind that the ongoing crisis started on October 7 when Hamas terrorists massacred over 1,400 Israelis and took prisoners,” he said. “Israel’s ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental. Getting its hostages back is fundamental. And ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
Walz said steady leadership is going to matter, and he posited that Trump is dangerous when the world is this dangerous.
“Talking about crowd sizes is not what we need at this moment,” Walz said before listing Trump’s former staff members who have disavowed him.
Walz said the US has already seen steady leadership from Harris as well as a “calmness that she’s able to draw on the coalitions to bring them together, understanding that our allies matter. “
US support for Israel amid Iran tensions
Walz said Harris will stay committed to holding the coalition together.
“And as the Vice President said today, we will protect our forces and our allied forces,” Walz said. “And there will be consequences.”
Republican Sen. J.D. Vance eventually gave a direct answer after taking the opportunity to introduce himself and explain his background.
“It is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe, and we should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys,” Vance said. “I think that’s the right approach to take with the Israel question.”
Vance combated Walz’s accusation of Trump being an agent of chaos, saying the former president actually delivered stability in the world by establishing effective deterrence.
People were afraid of stepping out of line, he said.
Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets “thanks to the Kamala Harris administration,” Vance said.
“What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they’re now launching against our allies and, God forbid, eventually launching against the United States as well. Donald Trump recognized that for people to fear the United States, he needed peace through strength,” he added.
“They needed to recognize that if they got out of line,” Vance said. “The United States global leadership would put stability and peace back in the world.”
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