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2012 U.S. Presidential Campaign: Rick Santorum

Learn More about Republican Challenger Rick Santorum
AICE does not rate or endorse any candidate for political office. This page is for informational purposes only.

Iranian Threat

"A nuclear Iran with a nuclear shield to project terror around the world is a nightmare for all freedom-loving people in the world ... If Iran doesn't get rid of nuclear facilities, we will tear down them ourselves."
- AIPAC Policy Conference, March 6, 2012

"This is not bellicosity and warmongering, this is preventing the most radical regime in the world from having a weapon that could fundamentally change the security posture" of "all freedom-loving people in the world."
- AIPAC Policy Conference, March 6, 2012

"We're throwing Israel under the bus because we know we're going to be dependent upon OPEC ... We're going to say, 'Oh, Iran, we don't want you to get a nuclear weapon — wink, wink, nod, nod — go ahead, just give us your oil.' Folks, the president of the United States is selling the economic security of the United States down the river right now."
- Oklahoma City Rally, February 9, 2012

"The president fought tooth and nail against putting sanctions on Iran and only capitulated at the end. This is a president who is not standing by our allies, is trying to appease, trying to find a way to allow Iran to get this nuclear weapon. He's doing absolutely nothing in a consequential way to make sure that they do not get this weapon."
- CNN, February 9, 2012

"Iran acts with continuous acts of war since 1979. The IEDs are manufactured in Iran. They are ruled by a radical theocracy. The principle virtue in Iran is martyrdom and mutually assured destruction. Mutually assured destruction with Iran is an inducement to war; their objective is to create a calamity and it is their mission to take on the West and destroy us. They hate us because of who we are and what we believe in. We need to work with Israel and use covert activity to destroy their facilities. We must close them down for them.
- Republican Presidential Debate in Iowa, December 15, 2011

In the Iowa August 2011 Republican presidential primary debate, Santorum told Ron Paul that “The Iranians are the existential threat to the state of Israel,” after Paul tried to belittle the nuclear threat Iran poses to the West.
- Glenn Beck, August 12, 2011.

"I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act when I was in the Senate because of their nuclear program. Iran is not Iceland. Iran is a country that has been at war with us since 1979. Iran is a country that has killed more American men and women in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan than the Iraqis and Afghanistanis have. The Iranians are the existential threat to the state of Israel. You ask Israelis what keeps them up at night - it's Iran and their funding of Hamas and Hezbollah, and Syria--[cut off by debate moderator]...

"Anyone who suggests that Iran is not a threat to this country or is not a threat to stability in the Middle East is obvioiusly not seeing the world very clearly...Iran is the greatest supporter of terrorism around the world and in the Middle East and is setting up training camps south of our border and working with Venezuela and other countries to threaten us. Iran is a country that must be confronted. I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act back in 2004...If and when Rick Santorum is president, Iran will not get a nuclear weapon because the world as we know it will be no more."
- 2012 Republican Presidential Debate in Iowa, August 12, 2011

“Effective action against Iran [requires America backing] a strong Lebanon, a strong Israel and a strong Iraq,” the Senator said in July 2006.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 21, 2006.

U.S.-Israel Relationship

"Under a Santorum Administration, we would find no gap between Israel and the United States because our interests are united."
- AIPAC Policy Conference, March 6, 2012

"I've seen a president who has been reticent, he says he has Israel's back. From everything I've seen from the conduct of this administration, he has turned his back on the people of Israel."
- AIPAC Policy Conference, March 6, 2012

"You know, maybe the first trip I would take [as president would be] to Israel."
- Republican Presidential Debate in Washington, D.C., November 22, 2011

Regarding President Obama's "Arab Spring" Speech

Santorum wrote an opinion piece in The National Review in which he noted his disappointment with the president for suggesting that Israel withdraw to the June 4, 1967 borders when its enemies vie repeatedly to destroy it and deny her right to exist. He ends the piece by encouraging every American who opposes terrorism to stand up in support for Israel.
- The National Review, May 20, 2011.

Santorum compared Israel returning to the June 4, 1967 borders as akin to the U.S. returning Texas to Mexico.
- Israel Matzav, June 22, 2011.

The Palestinians

"The bottom line is that West Bank is legitimately Israeli country. And they have a right to do within their country just like we have a right to do within our country. If they want to negotiate with Israelis, and all the people who live in the West Bank are Israelis, they’re not Palestinians. There is no ‘Palestinian.’ This is Israeli land."
- Remarks to a participant in an Iowa campaign event, November 22, 2011

Syria and Israel

"With respect to Syria, look, Syria and Assad are a threat to Israel. I was the author of a bill when I was in the United States Senate to put sanctions on Syria. And in fact, they worked to get Syria out of Lebanon, which was — which was step number one. That’s no longer a viable option. We need to rally the international community, work and cooperate with removing Assad and work in concert with the Arab League, work with others.

As far as a military mission on our own, no I do not support a military mission into Syria, but we should be much more aggressive in following through with policies that effectuate the removal of Assad for the benefit of the Syrian people and for our neighbor — and for their neighbor, Israel."
- Republican Presidential Debate in South Carolina, January 17, 2012