NEW YORK — President Barack Obama's policy of Palestinian "appeasement" is dangerous and naive, Texas Governor Rick Perry said Tuesday in his first major foreign policy address since rising to the top of the field of Republican White House hopefuls.
Perry insisted that the US government should cut funding to the United Nations and Palestinian territories and close the DC offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization should the UN recognize the Palestinian state by admitting it as a full member.
He blamed the controversial upcoming vote -- which the Obama administration has vowed to block with a Security Council veto -- on Obama's "policy of moral equivalency which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism."
"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," Perry told a pro-Israel group in New York.
"Bolstered by the Obama administration's policies and the apologists at the UN, Palestinians are exploiting instability in the Middle East, hoping to achieve their objective without concessions and direct negotiations with Israel."
Perry was flanked by Republican businessman Bob Turner who snatched a long-time Democratic congressional seat in a special election last week largely by exploiting frustration with Obama's policies among the New York district's Jewish voters.
Perry, who has been criticized for using inflammatory rhetoric on a host of issues, was subdued and almost apologetic as he castigated Obama's policies.
He said it was "wrong" for Obama to suggest the 1967 borders as a starting point for negotiations and "insulting" to make the proposal on the "eve" of a visit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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