By JODI RUDOREN and ASHLEY PARKER
JERUSALEM – Mitt Romney said Sunday that preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities would be his “highest national security priority” if elected president, in a speech that emphasized the shared values and interests he sees between Israel and the United States but which offered few specifics about the policies he would implement to pursue them.
“We have a solemn duty and a moral imperative to deny Iran’s leaders the means to follow through on their malevolent intentions,” Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told an audience of about 300, including a large contingent of American donors who flew here for the speech. “We must not delude ourselves into thinking that containment is an option.”
Unlike the Obama administration, which generally speaks about stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Mr. Romney echoed the language of Israel’s leaders, who talk instead about blocking Tehran from even the capability to develop one. His top foreign policy aide, Dan Senor, also went beyond Mr. Obama’s statements that all options should remain on the table and that Israel has the right to defend itself by suggesting Mr. Romney is ready to support a unilateral military strike by Israel.
“If Israel has to take action on its own,” Mr. Senor said before the speech, “the governor would respect that decision.”
The campaign, in the middle of a seven-day overseas tour that began in London and continues Monday in Poland, appeared throughout the day to be struggling with the delicate diplomacy required of a candidate abroad. After reports of Mr. Senor’s comments were published, he issued a new statement that did not mention unilateral action, and later he said he was not necessarily referring to a military strike. Mr. Romney himself stuck to his promise not to criticize President Obama on foreign soil, though his speech did include one vague shot at Democrats.
“We cannot stand silent as those who seek to undermine Israel voice their criticisms,” he said. “And we certainly should not join in that criticism. Diplomatic distance in public between our nations emboldens Israel’s adversaries.”
He also referred pointedly to Jerusalem as “the capital of Israel,” something Obama administration officials, in keeping with decades of official American policy, are unwilling to do because Palestinians also envision the city as the future capital of their hoped-for state. The line drew a standing ovation from some in the crowd.
The visit, Mr. Romney’s fourth to Israel, coincided with the solemn fast day of Tisha B’av, which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Between meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Romney and his wife, Ann, along with several of the donors, made a pilgrimage to the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism and a central symbol of the holiday.
Standing with the chief rabbi of the wall, Mr. Romney, in a black velvety yarmulke, was handed Psalm 121 — “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” — and later inserted a prayer note into a crack between the stones, as is traditional (campaign aides declined to reveal its contents).
The scene was more like a campaign rally than a solemn place of prayer. Women stood on chairs to peer over the fence that divides them from the men, many of whom clapped and waved as the candidate and his entourage snaked through; people actually praying were pushed to the back as security officers had cordoned off a space for the candidate.
“Jerusalem, the capital of Israel,” one man called out. “Beat Obama, governor!” said another.
Shepherding Mr. Romney at the wall was J. Philip Rosen, a Manhattan lawyer who owns a home in Jerusalem and has helped organized a $50,000-per-couple fund-raiser scheduled for Monday morning. Mr. Rosen said Sunday he expected up to 80 people for the breakfast, up from his estimate on Friday of 20 to 30 because of the influx of Americans.
Among those who flew here for the event, were the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has vowed to spend $100 million this political season to defeat President Obama and who wore a pin that said “Romney” in Hebrew letters; Cheryl Halpern, a New Jersey Republican and Israel advocate; Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets; John Miller, chief executive of the National Beef Packing Company; John Rakolta, a Detroit real estate developer who led the finance committee for Mr. Romney’s 2008 presidential bid; L.E. Simmons, the Texan owner of a private-equity firm with ties to the oil industry; Paul Singer, founder of a $20 billion hedge fund; and Eric Tanenblatt, a lawyer and Romney fund-raiser in Atlanta who had never before visited Israel. Scott Romney, the governor’s brother, and Spencer Zwick, his national finance chairman, also were on hand.
They were greeted at the posh King David Hotel here Saturday night with gift baskets that included white yarmulkes, which many wore to the Western Wall, and Israeli chocolate bars made with Pop Rocks. Some spent Sunday touring Jerusalem, while others observed the fast; after the speech, Sander Gerber, a hedge fund financier, and Mr. Rosen, were among those who made a makeshift minyan for the evening service, standing between lines of alternating American and Israeli flags overlooking the Old City.
As they have for months, Mr. Romney and his aides played up his relationship with Mr. Netanyahu, with whom he worked in the 1970s at Boston Consulting Group. In addition to their morning meeting, the two men and their wives shared a post-fast dinner at Mr. Netanyahu’s home.
David E. Sanger contributed reporting.
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