Rick Perry’s Hannukah Dance With Racist Rabbis

Jon Huntsman isn’t the only Republican presidential candidate with troubling ties to the racist Chabad Lubavitch Jewish sect. In a Jewish Daily Forward article entitled “Rick Perry Wins Support Among Right-Wing Jews,” Nathan Guttman writes :

It could have been an awkward moment even for a seasoned politician like Texas Governor Rick Perry. Surrounded by a group of Orthodox rabbis in black hats and black suits during a Hanukkah ceremony at the Texas State Capitol, Perry, now a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, was swept into a hora dance, holding hands with the Jewish leaders as they surrounded the lighted menorah. But Perry did not seem to mind. “That was a real ‘Dancing With the Stars,’” he said jokingly.

“The whole atmosphere was very warm, and we all felt very comfortable,” said ceremony leader Rabbi Shimon Lazaroff, regional director of Chabad in Texas.

Well, as comfortable as one can be dancing with a politician whose soul you believe comes from three satanic spheres.

Guttman goes on to explain the background to the Texas Governor’s passionate attachment to the Jewish state:

Perry’s strong convictions regarding Israel are in part a product of his visits to the country, two of which were organized and funded by Rabbi Irwin Katsof, a Jewish activist and businessman from New York and a former fundraiser for Aish HaTorah, a network of yeshivas in Israel and the Diaspora that strongly opposes territorial compromise with the Palestinians on the West Bank. During Perry’s November 2009 visit, the governor was presented by Katsof with the Defender of Jerusalem Award, a private foundation award given to foreign dignitaries deemed as supportive of Israel.

Katsof’s activism on Israel combines his business and his philanthropic activity. As an investor and funder he has forged business alliances between Israeli companies and firms in the United States and in Eastern Europe. Katsof is also the director of America’s Voices in Israel, a program that brings radio pundits and entertainers to broadcast from Israel, and the founder of Honest Reporting, a watchdog organization aimed at fighting anti-Israel media bias. Katsof, who lives in the Hasidic enclave of Monsey, N.Y., has brought many Republican politicians to Israel throughout the years and assisted them in forging ties with Israeli officials and local business leaders.