that's going to do it for this hour. i'm thomas roberts. brian williams and chris matthews pick up our coverage right now. thomas roberts, thank you. brian williams here in new york and you are looking live at the d.c. convention center, which tonight is going to be the focus of a very interesting night in american politics, certainly in the gop race for president, as the gathering is enjoying their version of kiss cam right now, and people settle into their seats. the american israeli public affairs committee is going to hear tonight from kasich, trump

and cruz, having heard earlier today from hillary clinton. aipac, as the group is known, is routinely mentioned among the most powerful lobbying groups in this country, raising and giving away millions of dollars per year, and wielding a lot of influence, a lot of it focused on the u.s. israeli issue. as we said, they heard this morning from hillary rodham clinton, who in a pointed speech, painted donald trump as unreliable. >> we need steady hands. not a president who says he's neutral on monday, pro-israel on tuesday, and who knows what on wednesday, because everything's negotiable. well, my friends, israel's security is nonnegotiable.

we can't be neutral. when rockets rain down on residential neighborhoods, when civilians are stabbed in the street, when suicide bombers target the innocent, some things aren't negotiable. and anyone who doesn't that, has no business being our president. >> the former secretary of state came out four square against donald trump. here his motorcade arrives at lunch on capitol hill, a loosely assembled group of lawmakers, many past lawmakers, newt gingrich among them, giving advice, counsel, and support, presumably, to donald trump. after that event, he talked about it a bit with reporters and also answered questions, a lot of questions about the gop establishment and these wildly

rumored efforts to replace him as the party's eventual nominee. >> they can play games and they can play cute. i can only take him at face value. i understand duplicity, i understand a lot of things. if people want to be smart, they should embrace this movement. if they don't want to be smart, they should do what they're doing now and the republicans are going to go down to a massive loss. they better be careful, and i certainly should be careful with third party stuff. if trump gets it, we're going to start a third party. well, a third party means that democrats are going to win. >> that was donald trump from earlier today, having been soundly criticized by former secretary clinton this morning. let's bring in chris matthews. he'll be joining us tonight from one of the three states voting tomorrow, arizona. specifically, cave creek, arizona. and chris, part of the reason why there is so much interest in the evening session of this

aipac convention in washington is that donald trump is giving a speech, what's billed as, and formatted, as, a speech. you and i have both heard him speak a lot, and he gives kind of wide-ranging, free-flowing remarks based on some key words that he writes down. this will be interesting see him in this forum, and then there's ideology and his former claims of wants to stay neutral on this issue. >> well, yeah, he has a lot of work to do tonight, and i assume he's prepared this speech to go as far as he's willing to do. so it's going to be surgical. he will be hawkish enough, was no more than he has to be. i guess that's why he's writing it down ahead of time, so he know he can meet the goal of those who are hawkish, very gung ho for israel and its defense, and concerned about the iranian deal. we know where they are. and combat at them, so it's

strong enough. i think it's going to be measured, which, as you point out, is ironic for him. >> and chris, let's talk about -- i'm hearing my voice in the background, unfortunately. let's talk about hillary clinton's speech this morning. brrnernie sanders, by the way, only jewish candidate for president, not speaking at this conference. he's out campaigning on the west coast. he's going to a rally in salt lake city tonight. he offered to deliver a speech by video. they turned him down. she kind of set out the parameters this morning quite clearly. >> yeah, i think that bernie sanders, his religious background is well known, of course, but he is on the left, politically. and on foreign policy, especially. he is an adamant opponent of this kind of interventionist foreign policy, which was branded by george w. bush. he's totally against it. and of course, aipac is very much in that corner, generally

speaking. the people who are known as neocons were all with w., almost all -- in fact an all of them that i know of supported the iraq war. well, today the war in iraq is in a bit of shambles, politically. you don't find a lot of republicans say it was a great decision by w. to go into that country and invade it and get rid of the iraqi military and do all the debathification and all that stuff. and so that's really changed from, say, eight years ago, when the republican party was a hawk party. within thing that's so true today, brian, and that's these two meetings make a lot of sense. the establishment in the republican party is hawkish. that may seem ironic, because they don't generally seem as ideological, the east coast people, but they're all hawkish. so in a way he's appealing to the republican establishment as well as the pro-israeli community tonight. >> chris, because you've spoken and written so much about john f. kennedy, i know that you were highly interested in this day as

kind of split-screen television. tonight we're devoting to domestic politics, the race for president, on the republican side. but earlier today, it was an american president in cuba for the first time since calvin coolidge and a lot of people were thinking back to the kennedy administration, thinking back of all that cuba has done to and meant to the united states and what this visit means. >> yeah, and i'm not sure john kennedy would be where barack obama is today. i have no idea. he set down very strong standards. he said, until cuba is a completely independent country, a completely independent country, from the soviet union, we'll have nothing to do with them. as long as they're controlled by foreigners, basically. russians, he wasn't going to put up with them. well, they aren't controlled by russians anymore, because there's no more soviet union, but it is not a free country. it is not. it's an authoritarian country, a

come communist country. i don't know where kennedy would have been. i think a lot of cold warrers remember exactly where castro placed his vets. he bet on the soviet union beating us in the cold war. and i don't doubt if there would have been a full victory by the soviet union in the cold war, that he would have been standing right there when the firing squads were busy and he would have been there enjoying it. that's a fact of history. that's where he bet his money. but everybody's trying to get beyond that now and hope that these good ties, commercial ties -- i thought it was fascinate welcome brian, that he brought ceos of companies into cuba with him and basically said, this is about opening up economic relations again and not so much about freedom, yet. >> chris matthews, please stand by out there in arizona. one bit of housekeeping, i got the venue wrong on tonight's speech is there at the verizon center, the sports arena. they're switching back and forth between the convention center and the verizon center.

but these big events are in the sports arena. katy tur travel iing with the trump campaign is with us tonight. katy, a lot to talk about. first of all, let's go chronologically. donald trump's gathering in washington this kind of loose confederation of office holders, current and former. what was it all about and what was said about it? >> reporter: well, it was initially billed to us through background sources that it was some sort of bridge building meeting with donald trump and the establishment. that he was trying to mend fences. what turned out, though, were the majority of the people who showed up were people who had already supported or endorsed donald trump, so it wasn't necessarily a meeting in which he was reaching across the aisle or even out to establishment figures in the republican party in order to get them on his side. mitch mcconnell was not invited, according to nbc news. neither was paul ryan, according

to his office. but what we had there was senators jeff sessions, who's already endorsed him. and it was allegedly organized by senator sessions, according to donald trump. and in donald trump's words, it was a bit of a meet and greet to get to know some of the people that he's had a long-standing relationship, to get on the same page. but, in effect, him coming to washington and not meeting with mitch mcconnell, not meeting with paul ryan, potentially not meeting with somebody like lindsey graham is not doing much to extend the olive branch and find a way for this very controversial candidate, this lightning rod candidate, to find some common ground with the establishment. and in normal circumstances like this, where you have somebody who is leading the republican pack by as much as he is, normally, people would be tripping over themselves, in order to get meetings with him. that is not happening with donald trump, because in a lot of ways, he and his campaign are persona non grata when it comes to washington right now. >> a couple of smaller items.

number one, he followed that gathering with a press availability. i believe, inside the old post office, the big construction prosecuting, converting that into a hotel. during which, a young woman who was wearing press credentials raised her hand, asked him a question, in effect, asking him for a job. he brought her up to the podium, introduced her to his guy, who hires people. then late today, elizabeth warren kind of opened up a new front of attack on donald trump on twitter. but it brings us to tonight, katy, and that is the format. we -- in my recollection -- haven't seen donald trump deliver a formal speech and address. and maybe this won't be, but it strikes me that tonight, he has to be very careful about his wording. >> reporter: well, he has given what would normally be

considered formal addresses, formal speeches before. one was at liberty university, another a the rjc back in d.c. in december. the thing about donald trump, though, is that his addresses never feel that formal, because they don't feel like they're that prepared, frankly. he's not reading from a teleprompter. he's ad libbing, more so, than he is anything else. also, his addresses normally sound a lot like his campaign rallies, his stump speeches. we're going to see if that differs tonight. he did announcement a group of foreign policy advisers today. he is said to have worked on this speech here tonight for quite some time. he will, we're told, be reading from notes. this is a chance for him to express some depth on foreign policy, depth on the complicated obstacles that israel faces in this venue. it's his chance to do that. it's his chance to prove the detractors wrong, that he does know what he's talking about. we're going to see if he

delivers on that. last time we spoke to an influential group of jewish leaders was at the rjc in december, and that was a bit controversial at time. it was littered with jewish stereotypes, a number of gaffes, he did not say that jerusalem was the capital of israel and that came back to haunt him. we'll see if he amends that tonight. >> okay. there might be some fire wworkss well, because some rabbis and activists have already announced their plans to walk out when he starts speaking. katy tur, we'll be checking back with you. let's go out to chris matthews in cave creek, arizona. chris? >> yes, brian, one of the congressmen who was in the meeting today with donald trump joins me right now. congress manning scott desjarlais. thank you for joining us. what did you think of trump today? >> i thought trump presented himself very well to our group. a lot of times the trump you see on tv is not what you see behind closed doors in a personal setting like that.

and i definitely left with a great impression of the man. >> did you get a sense that what you see on tv is the real trump or the real trump is the one you met, can you decide? >> honestly, i see much more of donald trump on tv, as do most people. and with that, you always get the spin, positive or negative. i haven't heard any of his opponents complaining about the over $1 billion of negative press he's gotten, but it is hard to distinguish between the two until you see him face to face. he's very warm, very genuine, very engaging in person. and what you see on tv a lot of times is the bravado that he's become known for. >> you know, i've wrestled with this same thing myself. because he's so successful in business, you wonder, he must settle down and be smart when it comes to deal making. did you make a judgment about him in that regard, that he could or could not be the kind of president we need?

>> i think that he could. i would haven't voted for him and i wouldn't support him if i didn't think this side of him existed. he's run a very unconventional campaign, there's no question about it. and frankly, it's got the establishment all upsidedown and twisted. but what we're seeing is a guy who's clearly the front-runner. he's resonating with people across the america and people need to get used to the idea this very well could be our president. and from trump's standpoint, i hope people get to see the side of him like we saw in meetings today. >> what do you make of this talk about basically denying him the nomination, even if he's within several votes of the 1,237. the idea of taking it away from him, how would that sell with your constituents, for example? he did very well in tennessee's fourth district. won by a large margin there. and honestly, it's terribly ironic that trump was the one they had to push to sign the agreement, to support the

eventual nominee. now that it looks like he's the eventually nominee, those same people are the ones that are fighting so hard to keep him from getting that nomination. and it's not fair, and i think a lot of people are maybe starting to come around and see that that's not appropriate. >> do you have a sense of who his vice president should be, for a political advance, or do you try to back him up with more business sense? what's your thinking about how he gets the majority in the electoral college? how's he do it? >> i think one thing you're seeing him do all over the country is inspiring voter turnout. and you know, i think that he'll actually get some soft dems. i think he'll get independents, and i think he's had an appeal with people to the far right. i'm a member of the house freedom caucus, and you know, i think that he has best positioned to actually get something done in washington, and that's what people are so frustrated with, about this city. is nothing's getting done. >> now, here's an open question. please don't assume that i know

the answer. why are african-americans demonstrating against this guy in big numbers, with so much anger out there on both sides? what is that about? he doesn't really talk about african-americans in most of his speeches. i never heard him talking about them. why is this almost natural antipathy there in these demonstrations we're watching, these protests? what's that about? >> i don't know. i'm seeing protests of all sorts, and all kinds. wherever there's cameras, that seems to be where protesters show up. it's a great way to get your message out. i'm sure mr. trump will address issues as they come up, and it's something that he needs to do. >> so you don't think it was his fault, then? >> well, you know, these are very organized protests. it's clear. there's professional protesters, we've all seen them. this isn't just people that are out there, you know, trying to peacefully protest. they're there to try to insight violence and disrupt these rallies. there's ways to get your message out, and, you know, frankly, i

think that this is by design. and you know, i don't know who's all is responsible for doing it, but it's clear that it's happening and you can look at that, certainly, through a couple of lenses. >> well, we all look at it. thank you so much, congressman scott desjarlais of tennessee. >> thank you, congressman. thank you, chris matthews. as we show you the venue, it is the big sports arena in washington, d.c.. it looks like something between a major party convention and a sports event itself. it is tonight, where we will hear from the three republican candidates in the arena, in the race for president. john kasich will be the first to talk to this group. we'll take a break. we'll come back with a live coverage of his speech. you're an at&t small business expert? sure am. my staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. at&t can help you stay connected. am i seeing double? no ma'am. our at&t 'buy one get one free' makes it easier for your staff to send appointment reminders to your customers...

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we are back. for those just joining us, this is the verizon center. the sports arena in washington. that countdown clock you see, they're working in the round tonight. this will start their evening education. their evening session will feature speeches from kasich, trump, and cruz. they're going to hear from all the republicans in the race. the american israel public affairs committee, among the most powerful interests in all of washington. jacob rascon is outside the verizon center where the presence of donald trump on tonight's bill is responsible for a couple of protesters outside. jacob? >> brian, we have probably a couple hundred protesters at this point. and i'm hearing myself, so i'll take this out. but you have from a group called "if not now," they're mostly jewish, under 30, and they're here protesting trump and as

well, others. but you also have some i've talked to, just individual, who have said, they've heard about trump coming. they are jewish and can't believe he's here to speak, so they felt compelled to come out. they have their signs and megaphones. across the street, you have a few dozen others from code pink. they're also protesting trump and others as well. and then inside, you have many people we've talked to, one of the rabbis who's leading the protests says as soon as trump takes the stage to speak, he and several others will stand up and walk out. so combined, you may have many hundreds of people who together are o upset about what trump is going to say or that he's here, period, that they're planning on walking out. brian? >> jacob rascon, thanks. and jacob's right. while we're not making too much of this protest movement, there's kind of some built-in hubbub that we expect at the top of donald trump's remarks. so knowing it's coming, perhaps, we will know what's going on if

we see movement in the crowd. kasie hunt covers bernie sanders. bernie sanders spoke to a rally of about 7,000 in boise, idaho, where kasie is right now. and kasie, let's talk about the politics and the optics of today. a lot of folks who were active in politics a few decades ago, would be forgiven for associating the american israeli cause with perhaps democrats. to chris matthews' point earlier in the broadcast, the politics of it have shifted around the map. and now, with a rightward tilt in the movement, a lot of republicans are most closely associated with the cause being strong, pro-israel. we have a president who's had a rocky relationship with the israeli rimes. where does all of this leave bernie sanders? >> it's really interesting, brian, because as you know, bernie sanders is the first

jewish person ever to win a u.s. presidential primary for a major party. he did that -- he crossed that threshold when he won in new hampshire. and they almost flew under the radar. it was almost something that went unnoticed. . and in many ways, people don't immediately associate bernie sanders with the pro-israel movement. and in fact, over the course of many, many years, in public life, sanders has often expressed sympathy for the palestinian cause. he has, on occasion, said some things that have raised some flags among pro-israel commentators, if you will, when he was talking earlier this campaign season about who advises him, naming jim zogby, among others. some people who maybe gave some pause to pro-israel advocates. but sanders, himself, does have a very deeply personal tie to his faith and he talks about frequently his own family's struggles in the holocaust. he talked about a little bit with our own chris hayes earlier today about his personal

connection to this. >> being jewish, what has been most significant in my life is understanding what a hitler, what horrible politics can mean to people. and i think that's been one of the motivating factors in my life, in fighting against racism and bigotry of all kinds. because when it gets out of hand, as we have seen and we are, you know, it, obviously, has unbelievable repercussions. >> not directly making a tie between what's going on in our politics and what he was talking about with some of what's going on on the republican side, but he certainly, at his campaign rallies, often focuses quite a bit on donald trump, particularly his rhetoric towards muslims. he often chants or leads chants in his rallies of love trump's hate. he's recently started fact checking donald trump from the stump. all while, of course, you know,

trying to run against hillary clinton, something that seems to be a more difficult battle. and of course, you have hillary clinton supporters out there today, talking about how sanders should try to wind down his campaign. his advisers telling me at this point, that they're actually winding up and he has no plans to get out of this race, brian? >> and kasie, a quick question about politics, because the next time we talk to you, will be, after all, tomorrow night. three states voting, all of them on the western edge of the mountain time zone, as it morphs into pacific time zone. what are his chances? >> well, brian, this area of the country, the western part of the country is a place where, if anything, the ethos that underscores bernie sanders is at its strongest, right? he was in washington state over the weekend, drawing tens of thousands of people across washington state. that was one of the early places where we first saw this excitement for bernie sanders. but, of course, the tricky part is, these are caucus states. you have utah and idaho voting

on tuesday. on saturday, it will be washington state, hawaii, alaska. the big prize on tuesday night is arizona. that's a primary, and that's going to be a little bit trickier for him. some of that terrain, a little bit more familiar for hillary clinton. she has some strength among latino voters, although bernie sanders' team believes that he has some strength with young latinos. and they really have been spending a lot of time there. but i will also say, brian, as we were talking a little bit about whether he should widen this down, on election night, tomorrow night, he doesn't plan to be in any of those states that are voting tomorrow. he plans to be in california holding a rally in san diego. that, of course, the very end of the democratic calendar and the state they insist they'll campaign all the way through. and a place they say they might be able to catch up hillary clinton in delegates, but still a pretty tough thing at this point. >> always fascinating to see their travel schedule and match it against what we think they're up to. kasie hunt in boise tonight. thanks.

another break for us. when we come back, we're counting down to the start of the first of three speeches tonight. we'll hear from john kasich addressing the israeli public affairs committee in washington. property being stolen. that is cyber-crime and it affects each and every one of us. microsoft created the digital crimes unit to fight cyber-crime. we use the microsoft cloud to visualize information so we can track down the criminals. when it comes to the cloud, trust and security are paramount. we're building what we learn back into the cloud to make people and organizations safer. the roles you play in life are part of what make you, you. and you're not going to let anything keep you sidelined. that's why you drink ensure with nutritious calories, 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. come on, grandma! giving you the strength and energy

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welcome back to our special coverage. we're awaiting john kasich to take the stage at the aipac convention back in washington. he'll be followed by donald trump and then ted cruz. joining me right now is rick tyler, the former communications director to ted cruz's campaign and now an msnbc contributor. it's interesting to watch, you tell me if i'm wrong. for a wile there, marco rubio was carrying the ball for the very pro-hawkish, pro-israel crowd, very hawkish, and he would reference greater israel ambitions of a lot of the people

on the right, and many israelis, but then it seemed like your guys have taken it over, your old guy. cruz has taken it over. he has michael la deen with him, the irish neocon, frank gaffe ty, and he's got a serious group of neocons. >> cruz named a very, very strong team. and he'll speak later today and i expect him to a lay out a very strong policy. and he wrote an op-ed earlier that was published today. so i think that he's going to be very strong. but with donald trump, though, and his speech coming right up, in many ways, this may be his most important speech of his campaign. and the reason is, is like liberty university, he can't afford a 2 corinthians moment. this is a very educated crowd -- >> meaning, he can't make a mistake on facts and language. >> he can .ma't make a mistake facts. politico calculated he made a misstatement or something untrue

every five minutes. he can't afford to do that here. these people know what they're talking about, know what they're listening for, and he can't fake it. he's got to know what he's talking about. >> he didn't know what triad was at one point, right? >> he didn't know what the nuclear triad was, he didn't know what dreamers were. and he talks -- he was asked today whether the united kingdom was going to leave nato, he says, i don't think so, maybe terks u, they've got a lot of problems. >> so he's going to have to be very fluid -- specif >> specific. >> -- on on topics like iron dome. >> they want to know that the white house door will always be open to israel, and specifically the prime minister of israel. barack obama has not had a good relationship, has not been supportive of israel to the degree people would like. and in fact, he seems to be more -- >> where do we draw the line? i'm not his adviser, but you've been in the situation. if he comes in there and lays

down for every one of their demands, will that make them look weak? suppose he says, i'm going to move the american embassy and comes out and brings that up, which he doesn't have to bring up, do you think he should go that far? likely to be that far? >> trump? >> yeah. he has to draw the line somewhere and say, i'm not here to pander. i'm telling you where i stand. >> he could do that, for sure. he has to have rationale. they're looking for that you will protect israel. they will also be looking for, why he said that they were neutral. you cannot be neutral with israel. it's one of our most important allies, democracy in the region. and so, they're going to be looking for, is the united states going to support and defend and back up israel? are they going to provide money to protect israel? are they going to continue with these threats, are they going to protect israel? so when he says things like

neutrality -- >> we're going now to john kasich on the stage at aipac. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> well, i'm delighted to be back at aipac, an organization i've known and worked with since the early 1980s. you know, back then, your audience numbered in the hundreds. the testament to aipac is that those crowds are now in the thousands, as we can see today. you know, i first visited israel in 1983, with my late, dear friend, gordon zacks. as you all know, gordon was a founding member of aipac and it was on that trip that i actually visited bethlehem and i called my mother on christmas night from jerusalem. as you could imagine, it was a very, very special moment and gordon always reminded me of it. gordon helped me as much as

anyone has over the years to know and to appreciate the importance of our relationship with israel and israel's unique security challenges. and i can't think of a better guy who could have taken me to israel. it was on my trip in 1983 that gordon introduced me to avatel when her husband was still in a prison. she told me her husband's story over lunch at the king david hotel in jerusalem and said she was going to washington to plead for his release. i asked her, would you mind if i organized a rally in support of your husband on the steps of the capital. and so we came together, in a bipartisan way, to call for naton shiranski's release. >> gordie had taken shiranski into the oval office to meet

with reagan, and when the meeting ended, she was told by the president, i will not rest until your husband is free. shiranski's story has always inspired me, but i don't know how many of you here have ever read his book, "fear no evil." naton wrote in that book, as i related to him, and he said, i'm glad that you saw it, that when they went to him in the prison, they wanted him to confess something. and they said to naton, well, you understand that galileo even confessed. and think about shiranski, sitting in that prison in that solitary confinement, and he thought to himself and told them, you're using galileo against me? no one will ever use me against any other prisoner of conscience. for that, he deserves to always

be remembered. i had a phone conversation with naton for years that i never had the chance to meet him. and ironically. i met him at the cemetery when we laid gordy zacks to rest, where naton gave a eulogy on behalf of our great friend. look, with i want it to be clear to all of you that i remain unwavering in my support for the jewish state and the unique partnership between the united states and israel. [ applause ] >> when i was first introduced to israel and some of its

leaders, of course, the core of our partnership with israel was already very well defined, and we give thanks to harry truman for the courageous steps he took when israel was first established. and i applaud our continuing legacy of support for the jewish state and the struggles, inventiveness, and vitality of the jewish people. this legacy is one that i will not only honor in my administration, but will take active steps to strengthen and expand. i want you all to know something very special to me, because it was at a ceremony recognizing the holocaust that as governor, i proposed that we build a permanent memorial, so that people and particularly our young people could understand the history and the lesson of man's inhumanity to man and the incredible suffering visited upon the jews across the globe.

i work with such prominent ohioans as the rapners, the wexners, and many other members of the jewish community over three years to make it happen. they told me it could not be done, and i said, you watch me. we will build a moisture. the memorial finally was designed by daniel leafskin and it was the first of its kind in the nation. and you all please come to columbus and look at it. it is just beautiful. but i want to tell you that a very good friend of mine, victor goodman, a prominent member of the jewish community in ohio, asked me to take him over to look at that memorial before it was unveiled. we walked over behind the tarp, i had my arm around his shoulder, and we read the inscription and the memorial together. and i will never forget when he finished reading it, he buried his head in my chest and wept.

and we wept together. and he looked at me and said, john, thank you for what you have done here. this will exist as long as the state of ohio exists. as you hay know, i served on the house armed services committee for 18 years. and i worked to implement ronald reagan's strategy to revitalize our military and to defeat the soviet union. together my colleagues in congress and i gave our alliance with israel meaning. we assured israel's continuing qualitative military edge by authoring the initial 10 million for the arrow, iron dome, anti-missile program, that we know is so critical to the security of israel. we supported the phantom 2000 program guaranteeing israel air superiority with the latest

fighters and the technology that has made the tanks so effective. i think it can be fairly said that my support and friendship for our strategic partner israel has been firm and unwavering for more than 35 years of my professional life. israel is the only democracy in the middle east that has been dependable and faithful friends. the american friends of israel are not fair weather friends. they recognize the strategic hinge with israel and that america and israel's interests are tightly intertwined, despite our inevitable disagreements, from time to time. we share a common interest in the middle east, the unrelenting resistance to iran's attempt to develop nuclear weapons. in march of 2015, when the prime

minister spoke out against the iran nuclear deal wildfire a joint session of congress, i flew to washington and stood tonight floor of the house of representatives that was in session, the first time i had visited since we had been in session in 15 years. and i did it to show my respect, my personal respect to the people of israel. and i want you all to know that i have called for the suspension of the u.s.'s participation in the iran nuclear deal in reaction to iran's recent ballistic missile tests. [ applause ]

>> these tests were both a violation of the spirit of the nuclear deal and provocations that can no longer be ignored. one of the missiles tested, had printed on it in hebrew, can you believe this, "israel must be extermuated." and i will instantly gather the world and lead us to instigate sanctions if iran crosses one t or one dot of that nuclear deal. we must put the sanctions back on them as the world community, together. let me also tell you, no amount of money that's being made by any business will stand in the way of the need to make sure that the security of israel is secured and that iran does not

have a nuclear weapon. no amount of money can push us in the wrong direction, and i want you to be assured in a kasich administration, there will be no more delusional agreements with self-declared enemies. no more. and as the candidate in this race, with the deepest and most far-reaching foreign policy and national security experience, ladies and gentlemen, i don't need on-the-job training. i will not have to learn about the dangers facing this country and our allies. lived these matters for decades. one day -- on day one in the oval office, i will have in place a solid team of experienced and dedicated people who will implement a long-term strategic program to assure the security and safety of this country and that of its allies, such as israel. i will lead and make decisions and my national security appointees will work tirelessly

with israel to counter iran's regional aggression and sponsorship of terror. we will help to interdict weapons supplies to hezbollah. we will defeat isis in syria and iraq. and we will assist israel to interdict iranian arms supplies and financial flows to hamas. let me stress, i will also work to build and expand on israel's newfound regional relations, as a result of the flawed iran nuclear deal, amazing, israel and the arab gulf states are now closer than ever. the bad news here is that the u.s. is not part of this new web of relations. i will work to participate in, expand, and strengthen those tie s israelis live in one of the world's roughest neighborhoods and iran is not the only threat that the u.s. and israel both

face there isis, headquartered in syria and iraq is a mortal peril. and of course, ladies and gentlemen, its spread must be stopped. since it is dedicated to destruction in israel, the middle east, europe, africa, asia, and the united states, it is a threat to all civilization, unless we recognize and unite around this central truth, we will remain committed to an ineffective and piecemeal approach to dealing with isis. because the world recognizes the existential threat posed by isis, win i believe i can lead a regional and nay to coalition to fight isis both on the ground in syria and in iraq. we are all in this together. i will also provide support and relief to our common ally jordan, who has shared the brunt of refugee flows, and i will bring our troops home as soon as

we, together with our allies, have created a realistic prospect that regional partners can conclude a settlement guaranteeing long-term prosperity. and my administration will cooperate with our allies to deny libya's oil as a resource, deny libya as a platform to mount attacks against europe, and disband what has become a hub for acts of terror throughout africa. i will support our common vital ally, egypt, in its efforts to destroy the insurgency in sinai and terrorists infiltrating from libya. and i will provide the afghan national security forces with the key aircraft and support needed to defeat the taliban, al qaeda, and isis and then i will bring our troops in afghanistan back home. insurgent states such as iran and network transnational terrorist actors such as isis

are not the only threats that israel, the jewish american community, face. believe me, a kasich administration will work from the beginning to block and eliminate any bigotry, racism or anti-semitism whether domestic or international, particularly in international bodies. [ applause ] i condemn all attempts to isolate pressure and delegitimize the state of israel and i will support congress's efforts to allow this activity both here and in the eu. and i am also very concerned about rising attacks on israel and jewish students on our college campuses. i pledge to use -- [ cheers and applause ]

>> i pledge to use the full force of the white house to fight this scourge and i will make sure we have the tools needed to protect students from hate speech and harassment while supporting free speech on our college campuses. [ cheers and applause ] i have been horrified by the recent spate of palestinian attacks on israeli citizens. these are not spontaneous actions of lone wolves. they are part of an unprecedented wave of terror that is involved over 200 attacks on israelis since october 2015. they are the outcome of a culture of death that the palestinian authority and is forbearers have promoted for over 50 years. [ cheers and applause ]

indoctrination of hate has long been part of a plan and well thought-out strategy. palestinian children are living in a culture in a willingness to die in the pursuit of killing or maiming israelis. children's textbooks have been filled with vile anti-semitism, imprison terrorists receive stipends and guaranteed jobs in the palestinian civil service at a salary determined by the length of their steps. public squares, streets and even soccer stadiums are named after terrorists. palestinians cannot continue to promote a culture of hatred and death. we must make it clear that we will not tolerate such behavior.

[ cheers and applause ] and i do not believe there is any prospect for a permanent peace until the palestinian authority and their friends in hamas and hezbollah are prepared to take real steps to live in peace with israel and recognize israel's right to exist as a jewish state. this violence is unacceptable. [ cheers and applause ] in the meantime, we can best advance stability in the region by providing israel our 100% support. we can make sure israel has to defend itself with technology,

political solidarity and working quietly to facilitate palestinian and israeli efforts at reconciliation. folks, let me conclude by ta talking about the greatest alliances with the countries such as israel where we share a community of values. the post-war international system that we and our allies built upon these common values, of course, is under challenge or attack. and that's why we have to recommit ourselves to those values. we must not shy away from proclaiming and celebrating them, and why we must re vitalize our alliances to defend and expand the international system, build upon those values. a system that has prevented global conflict and lifted over 2 billion people out of poverty in the last 70 years. in doing this, with ecannot do it alone. we must be realistic what we can achieve. we cannot be neutral in defending our allies either. we must be counted on to invest

in our friends instead of abusing them and incurring favor with our enemies. for effective governance -- [ cheers and applause ] -- in our democracy and for the sake of the future, we have to work together at home as well across party and ideological lines whenever and wherever possible. this is exactly what i've done in the course of my career in public service. i reached out to the other side countless times to see how we can sit together and achieve the progress that america wants and deserves. and we all look back to the time of ronald reagan and his meetings with tip o'neill where they came together to put america first, politics and partisanship second, and reagan as he reached across the aisle to tip o'neill, they managed to hammer out deals that gave reagan victories in revitalizing our economy and the military buildup that ended the cold war. but it took a conscience effort.

so this is what i want to do, republicans and democrats who are here today, we need to work together with congress on an agenda that serves the interests of the nation as a whole. we are americans before we are republicans or democrats. we are americans! [ cheers and applause ] >> and let me tell you, in regard to that, i will not take the low road to the highest office in the land. i will not do it. [ cheers and applause ] >> yes, we will rededicate ourselves to reaching the bipartisan national security

policy that president reagan and the democrats achieved. you can be assured that my strategic program will include and incorporate israel as the bedrock partner for our mutual security in the middle east. together, we will combat violence incited in israel itself, and of course, its eternal capital, jerusalem. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here today in front of so many of you who contributed so much. i'm humbled by the chance to stand here at this incredible gathering. of people who so much love america, and so much love our

great ally israel. you see, we're connected together. it's about civilization. it's about peace. it's about love. it's about togetherness. it's about healing the world. the great jewish tradition is everyone lives a life a little bigger than themselves. and that tradition has worked its way deep into my soul, where i tell people all across america, dig down deep. the lord has made you special. live a life bigger than yourself. lift others, heal, provide hope, provide progress, and with that, the rest of this century, and the relationship between the united states and israel will grow stronger and stronger for the benefit and mutual security of the world. thank you all very much. and god bless you. [ cheers and applause ]

>> the governor of ohio, john kasich, the anti-polamacist in the race. his middle america brand of politics on display again tonight in this gathering. huge gathering at the verizon center in washington, of the american-israel public affairs committee. kasich has won only his home state so far this year. but he survives in this race, in his campaign's view, to give voters an option, to be in many ways, and in two words, the anti-trump. he is a legislative veteran of the house of representatives. chris matthews continues to watch with us. chris, we don't know when donald trump will enter the arena, anytime i suspect. but he became the latest in a string of politicians to invoke your old boss, tip o'neill. >> yeah, and i have to tell you,

if i were donald trump, i would wait a few minutes. because that is one tough act to follow. i have watched kasich for a long time. he generally gets up and does an awe, shucks, sort of impromptu number. that was a written speech delivered brilliantly. it had applause line after applause line. he did it with passion and brio. i've never hear kasich do this. if he had run his whole campaign now, we might be looking at a guy very much competitive with trump right now rather than lagging behind. that speech was a barn burner. >> you took away my second question. i was going to ask you about the mechanics of it. he chose, i am guessing, a teleprompter was an option made available to him. he chose to read it from paper in front of him. he didn't put a premium on looking up at his audience. obviously the words were important. and you're right, i think his delivery was so