Sarah Palin said she would not “second guess” Israel should it decide to strike Iran.
In her first major interview Thursday since being selected two weeks ago as running mate for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Republican presidential candidate, the Alaska governor was asked three times by ABC news anchor Charlie Gibson what she would do were Israel to plan a strike on Iran to keep it from achieving nuclear weapons capability.
Each time she answered a variation of her refusal to second-guess Israel.
“We are friends with Israel,” she said the first time. “I don’t think we should second-guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security.”
Palin also said that Iran must not achieve such weapons capability under its current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Under the leadership of Ahmnadinejad nuclear weapons in the hands of his government are dangerous to everyone on this globe,” she said. “We have to make sure that these weapons of mass destruction, the nuclear weapons should not be given to Ahmadinejad.”
The Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), sounded a similar note last week, during a conference call with members of the Jewish media.
“This is not a question for us to tell the Israelis what they can and cannot do,” Biden said. ”I have faith in the democracy of Israel. They will arrive at the right decision that they view as being in their own interests.”
That said, Biden added, the Bush administration could have done much more on the diplomatic front to help avert the potential need for military action.
