Potential GOP presidential candidate Sarah Palin turned down a chance to speak at the prestigious Herzliya Conference this week, abandoning her plan to visit Israel early this year.
"She was invited; the president was invited,” a conference spokesman said, according to the Washington website The Hill. “All of the top people in the U.S. were invited. But it's not as if her attendance was imminent or expected." Palin's advisors have not commented on her no-show.
The former Alaska governor reportedly planned to visit Israel early this year to show her involvement in foreign affairs. Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, two other front-runners, recently visited Israel.
A new presidential possibility, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, is in Israel and is scheduled to address the Herzliya Conference Wednesday.
Palin was Sen. John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential elections and is considered to be solidly behind Israel. During the American-Israeli disagreement over the Palestinian Authority demand that Israel halt building for Jews in Judea and Samaria., she said there was not reason for the United States to get involved in what she called a domestic issue.
During the Hanukah holiday two months ago, Palin wrote on a website, “Today we should all recommit ourselves to ensuring that the miracle of a Jewish state endures forever.”
Although a Jews for Palin group sprang up last year, critics have alleged that some of her backers in the Tea Party, the grassroots anti-big government faction, may have Nazi sympathies.
Huckabee, a Baptist preacher who has visited Israel 15 times, is leading in most polls. Both he and Palin have not stated whether they will run for president. Huckabee said he will decide in the summer, and Palin told Fox News last month, "I am not ready to make it, an announcement as to what my political future is going to be. I am not going to sit down. I'm not going to shut up. I'm going to hopefully be able to help empower others who believe that one of the things that makes America so exceptional is our right to free speech… I'm going to continue down that path. And if that leads to be a candidate for a high office, then I will announce that at the appropriate time."