General Discussion

That does not mean that he denies any country the right to exist.

Taken just as he stated it, how does this disagree with our declaration of Independence, which states all men are created equal, was written when there were slaves and women had far fewer rights then men.

more interesting, what he said agrees with the Israeli declaration of Independence itself. That document includes "it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex ....

In both founding documents, the statement -close to what he said - can be seen as aspirational and not fully met. As to other ME countries, they do not come close to meeting a goal like this and most have never aspired to do so.

Here, I think two things. If he ever had a remote chance of winning, that answer ended it. The second is the that the question itself is problematic because it includes the phrase "as a Jewish state". It can be seen as asks him to accept not just Israel as a country, but Zionism. In a time where people as prominent as Trump, Netanyahu and some RW members of Knesset have spoken of removing Palestinians from Gaza and settlers are "settling" increasing more of the West Bank, for some who favor Palestinian rights this may be a step too far.