I haven't seen any contemporary you know Jewish Senators Republican Senators uh currently in the Senate yeah um and I know I know that's I know that Israel and the security of the people in Israel is something that's very important to you how did how did that become something that was important to you well first of all I think the last uh Jewish Senator we had was Norman Coleman in Minnesota who's a very good friend of mine and but I don't think you have to be Jewish to to be pro Israel and that's the important part uh that I've always pointed to and I first of just growing up in this community and being exposed to people in South Florida who care deeply about Israel is obviously the the beginning of the groundwork for for our sentiment as a Cuban Exile I can tell you that on many occasions we found solidarity with the pro-israel community on our cause and one of the reasons why is because Fidel Castro was an ally of also aaat in all the most vile elements of the Middle East and This Day on in international forums when there have been efforts to condemn Cuba sometimes the votes have been like 113-2 and now sometimes it's three because of the Czech Republic the state of Israel and the United States so I think that was the beginning of it obviously growing up obviously I have incredible friendships and um personal relationships with people who care deeply about the the issue of Israel my wife uh helps run a family's charitable Foundation whose giving is about 80% for Jewish causes and Israel so all of that brings you into familiarity and then as a policy maker the more you learn about the issue over over the years and this this dates back to my time in the Florida legislature you know Florida is one of the first states in the country to divest of any anything that invested in Iran we're one of the first so it just dates back over a period of time and then now obviously on the national stage I always make the three arguments number one is that it's in our national security interest because Israel is the only pro-american free enterprise democracy in the Middle East number two there's a moral imperative and that is that uh you know Israel is perhaps the only nation on earth created with a very unique purpose and that is to serve as a Homeland for an oppressed people and it came as about as in the aftermath of the Holocaust so that never again would there not be a place for the Jewish people to go if they Fel if they face persecution as they now have uh you know pretty consistently for 5,777 years and and the third did I get the number right I think yeah you're good you're good and uh well exactly just made it by a week here and the third is um the the reality that uh if you look at the situation with Israel they have no Nation on Earth would rather have peace there than the people of Israel but they're confronted by a series of challenges including the inab ility to have anyone to deal with on the other side and a growing effort in the International Community to delegitimize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State and that's something that's deeply concerning fa um you mentioned Iran and and what's um for for those those of us who don't know can you give us just a sort of a brief layman's terms uh summary of this Iran deal yeah here's the deal you have the world's leading sponsor of terrorism the Ayatollah of Iran they literally sponsor multiple terrorist groups around the world responsible for the death of innocent Americans the the death and the maming of hundreds of American servicemen a lot of these aides in Iraq were built and supplied by the Iranians who continue to actively uh Supply terrorism around the world just 48 hours from today that we're taping this uh a group in Yemen sponsored by Iran fired rockets at American Naval vessels okay they are the world's leading sponsor of terrorism a maniacal anti-American anti-em regime and we have just under this President signed a deal that will turn over to them access to billions and billions of dollars not to mention billions of dollars in cash right up front that's the deal in exchange for their promise not to enrich Beyond a certain level but they continue to build missiles long-range missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv Jerusalem eventually New York Chicago Miami number and and eventually they're going to move towards enrichment because they can they keep in place all of the infrastructure they would need for rep weapons grade uranium for my view is this President wanted an exhibit for his Library he wanted to be the guy that did a deal in peace with Iran and if it falls apart later he'll blame it on a successor it's a terrible deal it makes the world more dangerous it makes his lessons and it rewards terrorism and it's going to lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East other than that I guess I mean okay well on that cheerful note well as a senator what what could you do is there anything that we could do to curtail the effects or to stop the Iran deal well first we need to reimpose sanctions because the current sanctions on Iran expire let me tell you why that's relevant um currently under the system that we have now the deal with Iran is not even a formal treaty it is nothing but the president agreeing as part of a political agreement not to enforce current sanctions on Iran the sanctions are there but he's not going to enforce them those sanctions go away at the end of this year so they have to be uh authorized the second is I think we need to continue to press every time Iran violates this deal as they continue to do we need to continue to press to reverse this which can be done by the stroke of a pen by the next president and the third thing I would say is look for continued opportunities to sanction new sectors I actually passed sanctions on Hezbollah which is an anti-israeli anti-semitic anti-American terrorist group that receives a lot of funding and support those sorts of sanctions also hit uh Iran and so for ways to continue to sanctions their missile programs and the like and fourth is you know strengthen our allies in the region you look at the recent me memorandum of understanding between Israel and the United States that the president basically forced Israel to sign it has some outrageous conditions including that for 10 years Israel cannot Lobby the US Congress for additional funding that's outrageous that's ridiculous that needs to be reexamined and and I hope we can have bipartisan support to to could change that okay well speaking of bipartisan support a lot of a lot of people are thinking obviously about the election about presidents and and Senate and um so with with the with the two presidential candidates that are that are available to us now um where do you see the the future of Israel's security depending on who is elected well let me be frank with you this is not the choice I wanted us to have obviously I was a candidate myself I wish the American people had better choices than the ones before us today and on the issue of Israel in particular uh Hillary Clinton has been a strong supporter of um of President Obama's approach to Israel and and to President Obama's approach to Iran and my sense is that she'll continue with those policies and Donald Trump on occasion has said things like he's going to be a a a non-biased you know neutral Arbiter in some sort of deal with the Palestinians and I I condemn that I think that's not going to work to be quite frankly it actually endangers Israel so that's why I think the election for Senate is so important because no matter how you feel about this presidential race I know for sure that our next Senator has to be someone that's willing to stand stand up to the next president of the United States when they're wrong and I'm the only one running for Senate in Florida that has stood up to both of these candidates when I believe they're wrong my opponent whose name is Patrick Murphy has never once has never once uh stood up to Hillary Clinton on a single issue and on the Iran issue he says it's going to assure peace in our time I that's a quote that he thinks this will help achieve peace in our time the last guy that said that um regretted it for a long time that was Neville Chamberlain in in the 30s and and his dealings with Hitler