How much does Romney share with Israel?
Shared experiences link Romney and Israeli’s Netanyahu
Originally published April 9, 2012 at 12:00 am Updated April 9, 2012 at 6:24 am
(excerpts)
But in 1976, the lives of Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu intersected, briefly but indelibly, in the 16th-floor offices of the Boston Consulting Group, or BCG, where both had been recruited as corporate advisers. At a formative time in their careers, they sized each other up during the firm’s weekly brainstorming sessions, absorbing the same analytical view of the world.
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When Romney was the governor of Massachusetts, Netanyahu offered him pointers on how to shrink the size of government. When Netanyahu wanted to encourage pension funds to divest from businesses tied to Iran, Romney counseled him on which U.S. officials to meet with. And when Romney first ran for president, Netanyahu presciently asked him whether he thought Newt Gingrich would jump into the race.
A few weeks ago, on Super Tuesday, Netanyahu delivered a briefing by telephone to Romney about the situation in Iran.
“We can almost speak in shorthand,” Romney said in an interview. “We share a common experience and have a perspective and underpinning which is similar.”
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Romney has suggested he would not make any significant policy decisions about Israel without consulting Netanyahu, a level of deference that could raise eyebrows given Netanyahu’s polarizing reputation, even as it appeals to the neoconservatives and evangelical Christians who are fiercely protective of Israel.
In a telling exchange during a Republican debate in December, Romney criticized Gingrich for making a disparaging remark about Palestinians: “Before I made a statement of that nature, I’d get on the phone to my friend, Bibi Netanyahu, and say: ‘Would it help if I say this? What would you like me to do?’
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Netanyahu insists he is neutral in the presidential election, but he has at best a fraught relationship with President Obama. For years, the prime minister has skillfully mobilized many Jewish groups and congressional Republicans to pressure the Obama administration into taking a more confrontational approach against Iran.
“To the extent that their personal relationship would give Netanyahu entree to the Romney White House in a way that he doesn’t now have to the Obama White House,” Indyk said, “the prime minister would certainly consider that to be a significant advantage.”
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“His star,” the prime minister said of Romney’s time at Boston Consulting, “had already risen.”
Romney worked at the company from 1975 to 1977; Netanyahu was involved from 1976 to 1978.
But a month after Netanyahu arrived, he returned to Israel to start an anti-terrorism foundation in memory of his brother, an officer killed while leading the hostage rescue force at Entebbe, Uganda. An aide said he sporadically returned to the company over the rest of the two years.
Romney later decamped to Bain & Co. Netanyahu and Romney did, however, maintain a significant link: At Bain, Romney worked closely with Fleur Cates, Netanyahu’s second wife. (Cates and Netanyahu divorced in the mid-80s, but she remains in touch with Romney.)
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reducing the role of government in private enterprise.
He encouraged Romney to look for ways to do the same. As Romney recalled, Netanyahu told him of a favorite memory from basic training about a soldier trying to race his comrades with a fat man atop his shoulders. Naturally, he loses.
“Government,” Romney recalled him saying, “is the guy on your shoulders.”
As governor, Romney said, he frequently repeated the story to the heads of various agencies, reminding them their job as regulators was to “catch the bad guys, but also to encourage the good guys and to make business more successful in our state.”
A few years later, Romney had dinner with Netanyahu at a private home in the Jewish quarter of the Old City, in central Jerusalem, where the two spent hours discussing the U.S. and Israeli economies.
When Netanyahu told Romney of a personal campaign to persuade U.S. pension funds to divest from businesses tied to Iran, Romney offered up his Rolodex.
Before he left Israel, Romney set up several meetings with government officials in the United States for his former colleague. “I immediately saw the wisdom of his thinking,” Romney said.
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https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/shared-experiences-link-romney-and-israelis-netanyahu/