Some highlights, past and recent.
One of Rick Perry’s first acts after being elected agriculture commissioner in 1989 was to create the Texas-Israel Exchange, which promoted information and research sharing.
Gov. Perry Received Defender of Jerusalem Award Thursday, August 13, 2009
****** Aug 2009: Texas gov. compares Gaza to Mexico”……Perry also recalled the Texas-Israel Exchange - a body that supports the trade of agricultural know-how between Texan and Israeli scientists - which he established in 1991, while serving as the Texas Agriculture Commissioner.
"We have a connection that goes back many years," he said. "And Israel has a lot that we can learn from, especially in the areas of water conservation and semi-arid land - Israeli technology has helped us a lot in dealing with drought."
"But also," the governor continued, "when I was here for the first time some 18 years ago and I was touring the country, the comparison between Masada and the Alamo was not lost on me. I mean, we're talking about two groups of people who were willing to give up their lives for freedom and liberty." Beyond the comparisons, Gov. Perry said another point of his trip here was to show other people "what was really going on", with regards to the military threats facing the country, and in particular the IDF's recent Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.
"We went to the border with Gaza and received a briefing from the army there, and we went to Sderot and saw the police station with all the Kassam rockets piled up, we saw playgrounds that had to be covered from rocket fire. It's a powerful place." In that vein, the governor said he was also interested in learning more about security aspects while in the country, as Texas has a large, porous border with Mexico, and the recent violence in that country had unnerved many Texans.
"Israel is a leader in security technology, and another reason for our visit to the Gaza border was to see some of the security measures being used there," said Perry.
"Kassam rockets have killed 28 Israelis over the last eight years. Well, 1,000 people have been killed in Juarez [Mexico, on the border with El Paso , Texas] since the beginning of the year [in drug-related violence]. So we're trying to find ways to secure that border, because just like it's important to Israelis to keep heavy security on their border with Gaza, it's important to citizens of Texas to keep out the illegal activities that are going on with drugs [in Mexico]……”.
June 29, 2011: ....Perry wrote in a letter dated Wednesday, “According to numerous recent media reports, American citizens and organizations, together with a coalition of violent anti-Israeli organizations from other countries, have organized efforts to breach Israel’s Maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip as early as this week.”
He continued, “The act of funding, supporting, organizing and engaging in these efforts appears to constitute participation in a naval expedition against a people with whom the United States is at peace,” as well as material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization and other violations.
Perry said at least two of the ships are registered in Delaware, including one named “The Audacity of Hope,” which was the title of President Barack Obama’s second book.
The letter concludes, “I respectfully request that the U.S. Department of Justice take immediate steps to investigate, enjoin and bring to justice all parties found to be in violation of U.S. law by their participation in these efforts.” Source
August 24, 2011: How Rick Perry helped stop the Gaza 'freedom flotillas' ….>>>>"I once spoke at a mission that Perry took part in, in Israel," Darshan-Leitner recently told Commentary's Alana Goodman. "And he approached me and said, 'I love what you do. It's amazing what you do. If you ever need help combating Israel's enemies, I'm here to assist.' "
Perry made good on that promise in July, when a cohort of liberal activists boarded a Gaza-bound aid boat with the goal of breaching Israel's maritime blockade of the Gaza strip.<<<…………
Sept 20, 2011: Rick Perry’s speech reaches out to pro-Israel Jews, Christian Zionists “The complicated political situation in the Mideast Gov. Rick Perry addressed this morning takes on unshakable spiritual significance for pro-Israel Jews who believe that positions against the Jewish nation equate to opposing the Jewish people.
Days before the United Nations is expected to vote on Palestinian statehood, Perry’s pro-Israel remarks side him with this group of Jews as well as pro-Israel conservative Christians. Christian Zionist supporters include San Antonio megachurch pastor John Hagee, who spoke on the biblical significance of Israel during Perry’s prayer rally.
Perry did not speak in religious terms, however, at the event in New York, where he was joined by Israeli politician Danny Danon and American Orthodox rabbi Pesach Lerner, as well as other Jewish leaders.
President Barack Obama’s criticized stance on Israel may be enough to drive the Jewish electorate away from the left in the coming election, political scientists predict, but some Jewish leaders say it’s too early to tell.”….
The Palestinians’ illegitimate UN gambit “……….Unfortunate errors by the Obama administration have encouraged the Palestinians to take steps backward away from peace. It was a mistake to inject an Israeli construction freeze, including in Jerusalem, as an unprecedented precondition for talks. Indeed, the Palestinian leadership had been negotiating with Israel for years, notwithstanding settlement activity.
When the Obama administration demanded a settlement freeze, it led to a freeze in Palestinian negotiations.
It was a mistake to agree to the Palestinians’ demand for indirect negotiations conducted through the United States. And it was an even greater mistake for President Obama to distance himself from Israel and seek engagement with the hostile regimes in Syria and Iran.
Palestinian leaders have perceived this as a weakening of relations between Israel and the United States, and are trying to exploit it. In refusing to deal with the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, and taking this destabilizing action in the UN, the Palestinians are signaling that they have no interest in a two-state solution. The Palestinian leadership’s insistence on the so-called “right of return” of descendants of Palestinian refugees to Israel’s sovereign territory, thereby making Jews an ethnic minority in their own state, is a disturbing sign that the ultimate Palestinian “solution” remains the destruction of the Jewish state.
The United States – and the United Nations – should do everything possible to discourage the Palestinian leadership from pursuing its current course………..” -- Gov. Rick Perry OpEd Sept 15, 2011
Sept 20, 2011: Perry: Obama Middle East Policy "Naive, Arrogant, Misguided And Dangerous" ……..” Simply put, we would not be here today at the precipice of such a dangerous move if the Obama Policy in the Middle East wasn’t naïve, arrogant, misguided and dangerous.
It must be said, first, that Israel is our oldest and strongest democratic ally in the Middle East and has been for more than 60 years. The Obama Policy of moral equivalency which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism, is a dangerous insult.”……….
Thank you for your continued support for Gov. Perry - I'm still hoping and praying that this good and capable man will prevail. Our country needs him. And what a beautiful and gracious First Lady his Anita will be.