How do you know when an American politician speaks the truth? When Palestinians are in uproar over their comments. Mitt Romney this weekend said that the differences in the wealth and development among Israelis and Palestinian are due to culture. This sparked outrage on the part of the Arabs.

Mitt Romney told Jewish donors in Jerusalem on Monday that their culture is part of what has allowed Israel to be more economically successful thanthe Palestinians, outraging Palestinian leaders who called his comments racist and out of touch. His campaign later said his remarks were mischaracterized.

“As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality,” Romney told about 40 wealthy donors at a breakfast at the luxurious King David Hotel.

Romney, seated next to billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson at the head of the table, told donors at his fundraiser that he had read books and relied on his own business experience to understand why the difference is so great.

The Republican presidential candidate said some economic histories have theorized that “culture makes all the difference.”

This is the truth. In fact the most prosperous Palestinian are Christian. Coincidence, I don’t think so. Good on Romney for speaking the truth.

Tags: Romney's Israel trip

This entry was posted on Monday, July 30th, 2012 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Elections 2012, Headlines, Israel, Mitt Romney, Palestinians, Progressives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.