@PatriciaMazzei
Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen mailed a new flier Monday attacking Democratic rival Scott Fuhrman over Israel and Iran policy proposals laid out in his website.
Make that, formerly laid out in his website.
As of Monday night, Fuhrman's "Foreign Affairs" issue page had disappeared from scottfuhrmanforcongress.com.
Ros-Lehtinen's camp says the page was still up in Saturday when they sent the flier to print. Google shows a cached version of the page from a week ago.
In the now-deleted page, Fuhrman said the U.S. shouldn't "walk away" from trying to negotiate a peaceful two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
"This is an opportunity to make forward strides in peace," he said. "I believe congress should take leadership and put forward its own parameters for a negotiated resolution. The goal is to keep as many children and families safe from terror while encouraging equitable diplomacy in much needed areas."
In her flier, Ros-Lehtinen claims Fuhrman's "dangerous foreign policy pledges to undermine relationship with Israel."
"Impose 'solutions' against Israeli interests," the flier says, in ominous white lettering over a black background. "Fuhrman's 'equitable diplomacy' would create a false moral equivalency between the democratic Jewish State of Israel and the foreign terrorist organization, Hamas."
She also criticizes him for supporting the Iran nuclear deal.
Fuhrman's campaign said it didn't know about Ros-Lehtinen's flier. The reason the campaign took down the page, though, was Israel-related.
"After meeting with pro-Israel advocates yesterday, Scott understands better the need fir additional clarity with respect to his complete and unwavering support for our greatest ally Israel," campaign manager Steve Ross said in a statement. "The foreign policy section of the issues page on Scott's website will thus be updated to reflect his clear and unequivocal pro-Israel position, as he believes -- as he always has -- that the security of the Jewish state is absolute and non-negotiable.
"While Scott disagrees with Rep. Ros-Lehtinen on many issues, strong support for the critically important US-Israel relationship is not one of those issues."
Fuhrman himself called the congresswoman's flier "desperate."
"It's no surprise that Rep. Ros-Lehtinen is choosing again to distort and mischaracterize my position in the service of her desperate political attacks," he said in a statement.
It's not the first time in the campaign that Fuhrman has appeared surprised by an item on his website.
Last month, in an interview with Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS 4, "Facing South Florida" host Jim DeFede noted that Fuhrman's "Animal Rights" issues page seemed to suggest Congress should step in to keep local governments from banning legislation banning specific dog breeds, such as pit bulls, as Miami-Dade County does.
Fuhrman said there were "many, many" other issues for Congress to address first.
"You chose one off my website," he complained to DeFede. "But I do think this is an issue.... Pets shouldn't be criminalized."
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