'Romney to visit Israel in summer, meet Netanyahu'

'NYT': Republican presidential hopeful to meet Peres, Fayyad; “We value strong bipartisan support for Israel," PM's aide says.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Mitt Romney on the campaign trail 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Mitt Romney on the campaign trail 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney plans to visit Israel this summer for meetings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other officials, The New York Times reported on Monday, citing a senior Netanyahu aide.
“He’s a strong friend of Israel and we’ll be happy to meet with him,” the Times quoted Ron Dermer as saying. “We value strong bipartisan support for Israel and we’re sure it will only deepen that.”
According to the report, Romney will also meet with President Shimon Peres, US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, members of the opposition and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Israeli Republican political consultant Jonny Daniels said in late May that Romney would be visiting, but the Romney campaign said at that time that the former Massachusetts governor had no plans to come.
Daniels is the senior adviser to deputy speaker to the Knesset Danny Danon, who helped facilitate the visit of prominent Republicans to Israel including Mike Huckabee, Herman Cain and Glenn Beck.
Romney has attempted to reach out to Jewish voters and Christian conservatives by saying he would be more supportive of Israel than US President Barack Obama, particularly in regard to efforts to keep Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.
Obama also visited Israel while he was a presidential candidate in 2008, but has not made a trip to the Jewish state since he was elected.
The visit will mark Romney's fourth trip to Israel, the last of which was in January 2011.
A recent poll, commissioned by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, the Bar-Ilan University Center for International Communication and the Anti-Defamation League – found that while 51 percent of Israeli Jews believe Obama is “friendly” or “very friendly” toward Israel, more people think Romney, would better promote Israel’s interests.
Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report.
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