campaign, Romney said, "I believe our relationship with Israel, a nation which shares our values and is our best friend in the Middle East, should be of support and confidence rather than criticism and blame." In December 2011, he said, "I will travel to Israel on my first foreign trip [as president]. I will reaffirm as a vital national interest Israel's existence as a Jewish state. I want the world to know that the bonds between Israel and the United States are unshakable." On the question of whether the U.S. Embassy in Israel in Tel Aviv should be moved to Jerusalem, Romney said in October 2011, "The actions that I will take will be actions recommended and supported by Israeli leaders. I don't seek to take actions independent of what our allies think is best, and if Israel's leaders thought that a move of that nature would be helpful to their efforts, then that's something I'll be inclined to do. ... I don't think America should play the role of the leader of the peace process, instead we should stand by our ally." During a trip to Israel in July 2012, he reiterated that if elected president he would seek to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which he called the capital of Israel (and which he has said the U.S. should formally recognize as the capital of Israel, although Palestinians and other Arabs also claim Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state), if the government of Israel desired such a move. Regarding the Arab–Israeli conflict, in a January 2012 Republican debate, Romney said, "Well, the reason that there's not peace between the Palestinians and Israel is because there is — in the leadership of the Palestinian people are Hamas and others who think like Hamas, who have as their intent the elimination of Israel. And whether it's in school books that teach how to kill Jews, or whether it's in the political discourse that is spoken either from Fatah or from Hamas, there is a belief that the Jewish people do not have a right to have a Jewish state." Romney added, "There are some people who say should we have a two state solution, and the Israelis would be happy to have a two state solution. It's the Palestinians who don't want a two state solution, they want to eliminate the state of Israel.