JERUSALEM (AP) — US presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish state and told an Israeli audience that the United States has “a solemn duty and a moral imperative” to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability.

“Make no mistake, the ayatollahs in Iran are testing our moral defences. They want to know who will object and who will look the other way,” Romney said in Jerusalem. “We will not look away nor will our country ever look away from our passion and commitment to Israel.”

The presidential election hovered over the speech, with the Old City forming a madefor-television backdrop behind Romney, while some of his campaign donors listened in the audience.

Without mentioning the tensions between President Barack Obama and Israel’s leaders, Romney also suggested that the diplomatic differences only encourage

Obama has, at times, broken with Israel’s leaders and called on Israel to follow through on its commitments, such as to halt building of housing settlements in Palestinian territories.

Romney says he would never criticise Israel and would be a steadfast ally to the Jewish state.

...not worried about Newsweek’s ‘wimp’ critique

JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) — Mitt Romney says that if he worried about what reporters thought of him, he wouldn’t get much sleep.

He says he’s sleeping just fine.

The Republican presidential candidate told CBS TV’s Face the Nation that he isn’t sweating the upcoming Newsweek magazine cover that leads with ‘Romney: The Wimp Factor’.

He said the media tried a similar criticism of President George HW Bush, but Bush “was a pretty great president” who was not a wimp.

A 1987 Newsweek profile featured a profile of then Vice-President Bush with the title — ‘Fighting the Wimp Factor’.

Asked whether he had ever been called a wimp, Romney said the Newsweek cover a first.

Romney is in Israel on an international trip set to introduce him on the world stage.