[Hoot Gibson]

Maybe a president who would be neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be an improvement over Obama's animosity toward Israel, but I would prefer a candidate who recognizes the democracy of Israel as one of our most reliable and best allies in the world.

Trump says he’d be ‘neutral’ with Israelis and Palestinians

Leading Republican presidential hopeful suggests Israeli-Palestinian peace accord may be impossible: ‘Sometimes agreements can’t be made’

Republican hopeful Donald Trump said Wednesday that if he were elected president, he would be “neutral” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After being asked by a voter at a Charleston, South Carolina, town hall event hosted by MSNBC about what steps he would take to broker an accommodation between the sides in the conflict, the GOP contender vowed to give it “one hell of a shot” and called it “probably the toughest agreement of any kind to make.”

But when pressed by host Joe Scarborough over whether he ascribed fault to either Israelis or Palestinians over the failure to reach a lasting accord, Trump declined to take sides.

“You know, I don’t want to get into it, because … If I win, I don’t want to be in a position where I’m saying to you and the other side now says, ‘We don’t want Trump involved,'” Trump said.

“Let me be sort of a neutral guy,” he continued. “A lot of people have gone down in flames trying to make that deal. So I don’t want to say whose fault is it. I don’t think it helps.”