Portman’s visit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak included discussing Israel’s “Iron Dome” defense system.
Portman is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which recently approved $210 million towards missile defense systems for Israel. The Iron Dome batteries are credited with keeping Palestinian mortars and missiles from hitting Israeli communities.
“(They) help to avoid war by being able to knock these missiles out of the sky rather than have them land in urban areas. It’d probably precipitate an Israeli response, even in April of this year, when they had a barrage of missiles shot into their country.”
Portman says they also discussed Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear power, and suspicions that those efforts could shift to nuclear weapons.
Portman’s meeting with such high level Israeli officials may further fuel speculation that presidential candidate Mitt Romney will choose Portman to be his running mate. This would boost the campaign’s foreign relations profile.
But Portman dismisses those claims, adding that his trip to the Middle East was planned well in advance and was in accordance with his role on the Senate Armed Services Committee.