Donald Trump's contention that he was the most pro-Israel Republican at Thursday night's CNN debate was met with boos by the Miami, Florida crowd in attendance.
Radio host Hugh Hewitt brought up Taylor Force, the Army Veteran and Vanderbilt graduate student killed by a Palestinian terrorist this week in Tel Aviv, and he mentioned that the Israelis said the Palestinian Authority was inciting such attacks. Trump had previously stated he wanted to be a "neutral" force in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if he were president.
"Do you still want to stay neutral when the Palestinian Authority is inciting these attacks?" Hewitt asked.
"First of all, there's nobody on this stage that's more pro-Israel than I am, OK? There's nobody," Trump said, as scattered boos came from the audience. "I am pro-Israel." Trump briefly paused, and he continued speaking.
"I was the Grand Marshal not so long ago of the Israeli Day Parade, down Fifth Avenue," Trump said, which drew some derisive laughter. "I've made massive contributions to Israel. I have tremendous love for Israel. I happen to have a son-in-law and a daughter that are Jewish, and two grandchildren that are Jewish. But I will tell you I think if we're going to ever negotiate a peace settlement ... I'll say I'm pro-Israel, and I've told that to everybody and anybody that would listen.
"But I would like to at least have the other side think I'm somewhat neutral as to them, so that we can maybe get a deal done. I think it's probably the toughest negotiation of all time."