5 Republican presidential hopefuls not named Trump take center stage for 3rd debate

By Darren Lyn

HOUSTON, United States (AA) - Five Republican hopefuls took center stage at the third US presidential debate without former President Donald Trump in attendance.

But his absence did not stop the field from addressing the most pertinent topic -- the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

All five candidates showed their unanimous support for Israel late Wednesday after a deadly attack by Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on Oct. 7 that killed 1,400, despite none addressing the Palestinian death toll from Israel's retaliatory strikes which has climbed to more than 10,000.

"They're massacring innocent people, they would wipe out every Jew," said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, referring to Hamas. "I would tell Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), finish the job once and for all with these butchers."

"Wipe Hamas off the map," said South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

"Diplomacy only is a weak strategy.,” he said. “You cannot negotiate with evil. You have to destroy it."

"Finish them. Finish them," said former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley "Support Israel with whatever they need, whenever they need it."

"America is here, no matter what it is you need," former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said regarding his support for Israel and Netanyahu.

"I would go one step further. I would tell Bibi that Israel has the right and responsibility to protect itself," said tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

The candidates were not as united in their take on the Russia-Ukraine war with Haley, Scott and Christie expressing overall support for Ukraine.

"We should give them the equipment, the ammunition to win," said Haley, who said US support for Ukraine would be a way to deter worldwide aggression

"Every day, we get closer to the degradation of the Russian military, and that's good news," said Scott, who emphasized there should be more transparency and accountability when it comes to how Ukraine uses US funding.

"This is not a choice. This is the price we pay for being leaders of the free world," said Christie, who drew a connection between Russia's “special military operation” in Ukraine and Adolf Hitler's military offensive leading up to World War II.

DeSantis remained on the fence, expressing skepticism about some of the funding the US has sent Ukraine but maintaining that "we need to bring this war to an end."

Ramaswamy took his stance to the opposite end of the spectrum and accused Ukraine of harboring Nazism and anti-democratic beliefs. He also suggested that some areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia should remain in Moscow's hands and said that this is not "some kind of battle between good versus evil.”

Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, held a rally in Miami, not far from where the five candidates were jostling for second place. He has skipped all the debates and has no plans to attend the fourth debate.

While Trump did not mention Tuesday's elections, which saw Republicans lose several high-profile races, including candidates endorsed by the former president, he was adamant in his stance of being the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.​​​​​​​

"Our country has never needed Donald Trump more than it does now," he said.