Pence says 'America stands with Israel'; Trump says 'it would have never happened with me'

GLENWOOD, Iowa — Former Vice President Mike Pence condemned a weekend attack on Israel by Hamas militants "in the strongest possible terms" and said America stands with Israel.

Overnight, Hamas militants launched thousands of rockets into Israel in the largest attack on the country in years. Israel’s national rescue service said at least 40 people were killed and hundreds wounded.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 198 people have been killed and at least 1,610 have been wounded in the territory in Israel's retaliation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared "we are at war, and we will win it."

Pence, who is campaigning for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, told a crowd of Iowans Friday morning he and his family condemn the attack on Israel.

"If the world knows nothing else, let the world know this: America stands with Israel," Pence said to a crowd of about 60 in Glenwood.

President Joe Biden said in a statement posted on social media that he spoke with Netanyahu "about the appalling Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel."

"I offered our support and reiterated my unwavering commitment to Israel’s security," Biden said. "@FLOTUS and I express our heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost loved ones."

Pence said Biden's foreign policy, including his withdrawal from Afghanistan and a recent deal with Iran to return five prisoners to the United States in exchange for releasing about $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets, has invited attacks like the one in Israel.

"I say to you with a heavy heart: This is what happens when you have a president like Joe Biden who spends the last 2½ years projecting weakness on the world stage," Pence said.

He told reporters following his event that Biden needs to assure Netanyahu that the United States will provide Israel with military support and any other aid the country needs.

"The Biden administration has got to end their political problems with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his coalition government," Pence said. "What we’ve seen in President Biden is a cold shoulder and a stiff arm to Prime Minister Netanyahu. He only recently met with him at the United Nations General Assembly and hasn’t yet invited him to the White House."

On Saturday, Biden condemned the militants and pledged to make sure Israel has “what it needs to defend itself,” the Associated Press reported.

“Terrorism is never justified. Israel has a right to defend itself and its people,” Biden said in a statement. Washington's support for “Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering,” he said.

Pence reiterated one of his campaign's central themes, accusing his Republican rivals of walking away from what he calls "traditional conservative values" like being the "arsenal of democracy" with their lack of full-throated support for Ukraine as it fights against Russia's invasion.

"Voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world," Pence told reporters in Glenwood. "And if I’m president of the United States we’re going to send a strong and unambiguous message that America will be leading with strength once again on the world stage."

Ron DeSantis: 'We stand with the people of Israel'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking to reporters Saturday morning in Ankeny, condemned the attack and said "we stand with the state of Israel."

"This is a time for moral clarity," DeSantis said. "This is a time for the president of the United States to say unequivocally, we stand with the people of Israel."

DeSantis said Iran is celebrating the attack on Israel and accused Biden of making it easier for Iran to provide backing to Hamas by "being weak on sanctions."

"They came under a brutal terrorist attack at the hands of Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists," DeSantis said. "Iran is already celebrating that. Of course, Iran funds Hamas. The Biden administration has made that a lot easier by being weak on sanctions and even doing $6 billion.

"Israel has every right to defend itself and they should really do what it takes to root out Hamas once and for all," he said.

Donald Trump: 'This would have never happened with me'

Speaking from Waterloo Saturday afternoon, former Republican President Donald Trump said Israel would not have been attacked if he were president.

"They didn't have that level of aggression with me," he said of Hamas. "They didn't have it. This would have never happened with  me."

"The Hamas terrorist invasion of Israel territories … and the murder of Israeli soldiers today and the brutal murder of citizens is an act of savagery that must and will be crushed," he said. "It has to be dealt with very powerfully."

Trump blamed Biden for being a weak leader and, like Pence, criticized the recent prisoner exchange deal.

"This is a time where the United States needs leadership," Trump said. "We don't have leadership. But Israel is at war. And the United States obviously is going to stick with Israel strongly."

Nikki Haley: 'We're seeing Israel shaken in the way we were shaken on 9/11'

At a town hall event Monday in Ida Grove, presidential candidate Nikki Haley briefly addressed the Hamas attack on Israel. Citing her appearance on "Meet the Press" Sunday, Haley called Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was also a guest on the NBC morning show, "irresponsible" for saying there's no connection between the attack on Israel and the deal the U.S. made with Iran in September to release American detainees.

"I dealt with the Iranians. I dealt with everything that happened with Israel when I was at the United Nations," Haley said to a standing-room-only crowd at The Farmacy Soda Fountain and Coffee Shop. "It is a shell game the way they move money around. So that $6 billion that you just gave to them opened up $6 billion for them to spend on terrorist activity."

The Biden administration has said that none of the money has been released and any expenditures would be monitored.

Haley, whose recent campaign swing in Iowa also included stops in Sioux City and Boone, told attendees Monday morning at The Farmacy that the attack on Israel can have an immense impact on the U.S.

"Let me tell you what Hamas (fighters) did," she said. "They went into the streets celebrating, saying: 'Death to Israel. Death to America.' Think about that."

Repeating the sentiment again — "Death to Israel. Death to America" — Haley criticized the Biden administration for loosening "all the sanctions" on the Iranian regime and warned that America needs to "wake up."

"We're seeing Israel shaken in the way we were shaken on 9/11 with so many of their friends and loved ones that died. And, now they're sending their sons and daughters to fight a war," she added. "We need to understand in America we can never be so arrogant to think we don't need friends.

"We need friends. We needed them on 9/11. We can never be so arrogant to think that that won't happen to us."

Tim Scott: Isreal attack 'an assault on Western civilization'

In South Carolina, presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott released the following statement on Hamas' attack on Israel:

"Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel today is an assault on Western civilization.

"The truth is though, Joe Biden funded these attacks on Israel.

"America's weakness is blood in the water for bad actors, but this is worse than that. We didn’t just invite this aggression, we paid for it. Iran is the biggest funder of Hamas. This is the Biden $6 billion ransom payment at work.

"Israel must defend its people and the nation, and the United States must do everything we can to assist our ally Israel.

"As Psalm 122:6 encourages us, we must pray for the peace of Jerusalem."

On Sunday, Scott issued a scathing tweet, saying Biden is "complicit" in the attacks for his "weakness" and "negotiation."

Des Moines Register reporter Phillip Sitter and the Associated Press and USA Today contributed to this report.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: In Iowa, 2024 Republican candidates support Israel after Hamas attack