http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/1376/gov-rick-perry-says-texas-can-learn-from-israeli
August 2009 — “Gov. Rick Perry compared Mexico to the Gaza strip, saying Texas can learn from Israeli security efforts after touring a town that has been hit by Palestinian rockets.
Perry, who has demanded a heightened U.S. troop presence along the Rio Grande, went to Israel’s border with Gaza earlier with week and was briefed by Israeli Army officials.
“Kassam rockets have killed 28 Israelis over the last eight years. Well, 1,000 people have been killed in Juarez since the beginning of the year,” the governor told the Jerusalem Post in Friday’s editions, referring to the drug-related killings across the border from El Paso. “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.”
Perry’s office has been mum about his exact whereabouts during the trip. His wife Anita, their son Griffin, and Griffin’s fiancee are reportedly with him, and he returns to Texas on Saturday.
The Gaza-Mexico comparison was far more strident than the tone struck by President Barack Obama on Monday in Guadalajara, Mexico, at the so-called “Three Amigos Summit” with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, although border violence was among the topics there and Obama pledged ongoing support in Mexico’s fight with drug cartels.
“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,” Perry told the Post, referring to the town near Gaza that took the brunt of attacks in recent years.
While in Israel, Perry also has met with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, according to his office, visited “sacred and historical sites,” including Jerusalem’s Old City, according to the Post.”
Ainsman, a prominent Democratic lawyer and Pittsburgh Jewish community leader, was trying to explain that Obama had just been offering Israel a bit of “tough love” in his May 19 speech on the Arab Spring. His friends disagreed — to say the least.
[snip]
“When Obama was running, there was a lot of concern among the guys in my group at shul, who are all late-30s to mid-40s, who I hang out with and daven with and go to dinner with, about Obama,” recalled Scott Matasar, a Cleveland lawyer who’s active in Jewish organizations.
Matasar remembers his friends’ worries over whether Obama was “going to be OK for Israel.” But then Obama met with the community’s leaders during a swing through Cleveland in the primary, and the rabbi at the denominationally conservative synagogue Matasar attends — “a real ardent Zionist and Israel defender” — came back to synagogue convinced.
“That put a lot of my concerns to rest for my friends who are very much Israel hawks but who, like me, aren’t one-issue voters.”
Now Matasar says he’s appalled by Obama’s “rookie mistakes and bumbling” and the reported marginalization of a veteran peace negotiator, Dennis Ross, in favor of aides who back a tougher line on Netanyahu. He’s the most pro-Obama member of his social circle but is finding the president harder to defend.
“He’d been very ham-handed in the way he presented [the 1967 border announcement] and the way he sprung this on Netanyahu,” Matasar said.
A Philadelphia Democrat and pro-Israel activist, Joe Wolfson, recalled a similar progression.
“What got me past Obama in the recent election was Dennis Ross — I heard him speak in Philadelphia and I had many of my concerns allayed,” Wolfson said. “Now, I think I’m like many pro-Israel Democrats now who are looking to see whether we can vote Republican.”.............. -- Jewish Dems losing faith in Obama
And what of Israel building a security fence, when Perry opposes a border fence?
Politics should not be put ahead of security. This is a mark against Perry.