Obama's Middle East policy ‘dangerous,' says Perry

On the heels of the Palestinians' unilateral steps to obtain recognition of statehood at the U.N. this week, Texas Governor Rick Perry voiced support for Israel on Tuesday morning, calling on the U.S. to close the Palestine Liberation Organization's office in Washington if the U.N. recognizes a Palestinian state, and saying that the U.S. should move its Israeli Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Perry, the perceived frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, spoke at a pro-Israel rally organized by World Likud Chairman MK Danny Danon in New York, in what could be seen as an attempt to boost his standing with Jewish voters and political donors who have expressed growing discontent with U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East policy.

“The Palestinians must know their gambit comes with consequences, in particular that America will have to reconsider the $4 billion in assistance we have provided to the Palestinians over the last 17 years,” Perry said. Some of his Republican colleagues have been pushing for legislation that would completely eliminate the more than $500 million per year in aid given to the Palestinians.

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During the speech, Perry slammed Obama for “appeasing” the Palestinians in their efforts to seek U.N. recognition of statehood.

“We ... are indignant of the Obama administration and its Middle East policy of appeasement that has encouraged such an ominous act of bad faith,” Perry said. “Simply put, we would not be here at this very precipice of such a dangerous move if the Obama policy in the Middle East wasn't naive, arrogant, misguided and dangerous ... Bolstered by the Obama administration's policies and the apologists at the U.N., Palestinians are exploiting instability in the Middle East, hoping to achieve their objective without concessions and direct negotiations with Israel.”

Perry accused Obama of making a perilous comparison between Israeli citizens and Palestinian terrorists, saying, “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.”

“There is no middle ground between our allies and those who seek their destruction,” he said. “America should not be ambivalent between the terrorist tactics of Hamas and the security tactics of the legitimate and free state of Israel. By proposing ‘indirect talks' through the U.S. rather than between Palestinian leaders and Israel, this administration encouraged the Palestinians to shun direct talks.”

Perry also called on the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and to adhere to the Oslo Accords by renouncing unilateral moves and returning to negotiations.

“Every nation within the U.N. must know America stands with Israel and the Oslo Accords principle of direct negotiations without equivocation,” he said.

‘Israel -- our ally’

According to Perry, Obama's biggest mistake was to call on Israel to freeze settlement construction as a precondition for negotiations.

“When the Obama administration demanded a settlement freeze, it led to a freeze in Palestinian negotiations,” Perry wrote in a recent editorial. “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.”

Perry has not been alone in his staunch support for Israel in recent days in the face of Palestinian moves at the U.N.

In an interview with CNN on Monday, Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who is also a leading contender in the Republican primaries, said she did not believe Israel should give up more of its land because “whenever Israel gives up land for peace ... they don't get peace in return.”

“And my opinion is that the president has not done Israel any favors by making the unwise speech that he made earlier this year when he called on Israel to retreat to its indefensible 1967 borders,” she added.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who is Perry's closest rival for the Republican presidential nomination, also criticized Obama's policies, saying in a statement Tuesday, “What we are watching unfold at the United Nations is an unmitigated diplomatic disaster. It is the culmination of President Obama's repeated efforts over three years to throw Israel under the bus and undermine its negotiating position.”

But Republicans have not been the only ones to stand up for Israel. On Monday, 14 U.S. senators -- seven Democrats, six Republicans and one Independent -- sent a letter to Obama calling on him to take advantage of his speech at the U.N. Wednesday to reaffirm U.S. support for Israel.

“The world needs to hear unequivocally from you that Israel -- our friend, ally, and strategic partner -- is not alone in facing these threats,” the senators wrote.

The senators pointed to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent anti-Israeli rhetoric, saying, “We need to make it clear that we will not tolerate continued threats to Israel by governments or individuals in the region or attempts to delegitimize Israel at the U.N. or other international forums.”

“Violence and unilateralism against Israel will be met with the strongest U.S. opposition,” the letter said
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