Ron Paul Wishes Israeli State Didn’t Exist, but he Isn’t Anti-Semite: Former Aide

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul is absolutely not an anti-Semite even though he is most certainly anti-Israeli in general and wishes that the Israeli state did not exist at all, according to his former aide.

Is Ron Paul an Anti-Semite? Absolutely No, Eric Dondero, a former senior staffer who worked for Ron Paul for twelve years consistently, wrote in a post in the site Rightwingnews.com, commenting on the racist newsletter controversy and anti-Semitism allegations against the Texas Congressman.

As a Jew, (half on my mother's side), I can categorically say that I never heard anything out of his mouth, in hundreds of speeches I listened too over the years, or in my personal presence that could be called Anti-Semite, Dondero wrote, no slurs, no derogatory remarks.

He is, however, most certainly Anti-Israel and Anti-Israeli in general. He wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all. He expressed this to me numerous times in our private conversations. His view is that Israel is more trouble than it is worth, specifically to the America taxpayer. He sides with the Palestinians, and supports their calls for the abolishment of the Jewish state, and the return of Israel, all of it, to the Arabs, the blog post read.

However, according to Dondero, Ron Paul has no problem with American Jews.

Dondero also addressed the racism allegations against Ron Paul: Is Ron Paul a racist? In short, no.

I never heard a racist word expressed towards Blacks or Jews come out of his mouth. Not once, Dondero wrote, but added a caveat: He is what I would describe as 'out of touch,' with both Hispanic and Black culture. Ron is far from being the hippest guy around. He is completely clueless when it comes to Hispanic and Black culture, particularly Mexican-American culture. And he is most certainly intolerant of Spanish and those who speak strictly Spanish in his presence.

Ron Paul's spokesperson Jesse Benton responded to the blog post, saying: Eric Dondero is a disgruntled former staffer who was fired for performance issues.

He has zero credibility and should not be taken seriously, CBS news quoted Benton as saying.

Paul, responding to President Obama's speech in May about the U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, had stated that Israel is our close friend.

Unlike this President, I do not believe it is our place to dictate how Israel runs her affairs. There can only be peace in the region if those sides work out their differences among one another. We should respect Israel's sovereignty and not try to dictate her policy from Washington, Ron Paul had said.