Asheville native and businessman John Maltry and his wife Maria returned recently from a trip to Israel with a tour group led by former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee, a possible Republican candidate for president who now serves as a talk show host on Fox News Channel.

During the Feb. 15-25 trip, Maltry, along with others, had a chance to meet privately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — an interchange that Maltry said he will long savor. Especially memorable for Maltry was his opportunity to question  the PM.

Maltry has visited more than 30 countries, but never has been to another country where he so quickly connected with the people, he said during a Feb. 26 telephone interview with the Daily Planet.

“Connecting with Israel — that’s really what it was about,” Maltry noted.

Originally, he had decided to visit Israel because it was on his “bucket list” of experiences he wanted to have at this point in his life. However, Maltry found Israel and the Israelis so interesting that “I now have it on my bucket list” again and is pondering, “When are we going to go back?”

The visit, he added, “was beyond my wildest dreams. It was a combination of walking where Jesus walked — the religious aspect — as well as the political aspect.

“I used to read in black and white, and now I’m seeing in color. As a Jewish person, you need to know nothing about Christianity. As a Christian, you need to know about Judaism” to understand Jesus. “After visiting Israel, “it (Jesus’ story) is no longer a fictitious story or parable. It becomes real life.”

Those on the tour, hosted by Huckabee and his wife Janet, were — predictably — “pretty much a Christian conservative group,” Maltry said. He had heard about the Huckabee tour “from someone else” and decided to sign up his wife and himself to participate.

He called Huckabee “a really down-to-earth guy. As the week wore on, Mike became just one of the guys. He is a very good preacher. He spoke a lot about the Beatitudes....” Maltry said Huckabee’s wife also is gracious and friendly. Among the celebrities along for the Huckabee tour was Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers country music trio.

“The best line I heard (about Huckabee) was from Netanyahu, who said of their relationship, where they differ on some issues,  “Mike and I are friends,” so some disagreements are OK. Maltry said he feels the same way about Huckabee, in that “I don’t agree with his positions on everything, but we’re friends.”

Maltry, a member of the board of directors of the Asheville Tea Party, said, “As far as him (Huckabee) being called a ‘progressive’ (by talk show host Glenn Beck), the most important thing in my mind is winning the ‘big enchalada’” — control of the U.S. government.

“The way I’m thinking about it is, we’ve got to take control of the Senate. We need to be smart about how people get into there. Maybe that’s where Huckabee’s coming from. It’s not a rigid idealogical approach (with him). I’m leaning more and more that way.”

As for the tour, he said, “It was a combination of ‘Why is Israel important?’ and ‘What are the relevant aspects of Israel?”

To Maltry’s delight, he was among a group on the tour who were treated to a meeting with Netanyahu on Feb. 23. “They (the tour leaders) asked for volunteers” without disclosing that for which they were volunteering. “I volunteered. They didn’t tell us where we were going until we were on the bus. We had a 45-minute session with the prime minister. It was in his office, not the news media room.” 

Maltry added, “You can’t understand the ‘return to the ‘67 borders’ admonition — by some — without being there and seeing the mortar fire,” which he experienced on the tour.

“There were three reasons why Israel was important to me,” he said, listing the following:

• “Knowing your Judeo-Christian walks — the ongoing work of discovery... weekly, they’re finding stuff. So the archaeological aspect is a pretty significant historical location.”

• “The model of freedom for the Middle East... I saw many nations lobbing mortar shells back and forth in many Arab nations. Israel (in contrast) is a model of democracy.”

• “It seemed to be an intellectual and creative base. They turned wasteland into a green area. It’s a model of freedom in the Middle East.”

Further, he said, “I bonded with Israel within just hours. Such a far way to go, but this one trip” was exceptional — and “now I want to go back.

During the meeting at prime minister’s office, Netanyahu gave the opening remarks, followed by some remarks by Huckabee.

Those present were asked not to take pictures. Maltry did not take notes, but  has a good memory, said the following is what he termed “just the general thrust” of the meeting with the PM.

“What is your No. 1 priority?” someone asked Netanyahu.

“Security,” he said emphatically and without hesitation, according to Maltry. “We’re a small nation surrounded by enemies that would like us to be destroyed. We cannot afford to lose one single war.”

Another question was: “What can Ammerica do to help Israel?”

“Ensure that Iran doesn’t gain a nuclear  weapon,” the PM replied. “Israel is the local satan, while they (the Arab nations) regard America as the big satan. Why do you think they’re developing long-range nuclear missiles?”

Maltry said Netanyahu went on to note that Iran said it has manufactured new missiles with the range of 1,200 miles, capable or reaching Israel and U.S. military bases in the Middle East. “They can already hit Israel. Why do you think they keep developing longer-range missiles that could reach 1,900 miles? I’m not suggesting thety’re going to hit the United States (mainland), which is 6,000 miles away.” However, Maltry said the PM expressed the view that the U.S. is “the big target.”

Someone asked the PM — “off the record — “if we swear on a stack of bibles — what did you say to our young president when he insisted you return to ‘67 boundaries?”

Netanyahu smiled and said, “Our countries are friends, and friends can have disagreements,” Maltry recalled.

The aforementioned question prompted another person on the tour “to stand up and apologize for the actions of our inexperienced president. People applauded,” Maltry said. 

“What are your thoughts on Israel finding one of the world’s largest natural gas reserves in waters just off Israel?” the PM was asked.

“We’re glad to have such a large energy finding off our shares,” Netanyahu said. “It will help us be energy-independent and a net exporter of energy. But I’m glad we found it now, but not sooner. Since we were not originally energy-rich, we first had to develop (pointing to his head and implying brains). Now that we have energy, we’ll be able to use it better and more wisely.”

From the back row, Maltry, feeling that many of the earlier questions “were softballs,” then addressed the PM. “I thanked him for taking the time off to talk to us.”

Then Maltry asked, “As you know, there’s a growing movement in the United States to shrink the size of our government, reduce taxes and reduce spending. Many individuals in the United States are interested in improving our homeland, versus helping other countries. What would you say to those individuals thinking this way?”

Suddenly, Netanyahu turned off the lights on the podium, so that he could clearly see Maltry — and spent about 10 minutes answering his question.

“The prime minister said America cannot pull back from its global position,” Maltry recalled. Nentanyahu added, “If the United States is not there (as the global superpower), then someone else will be there. The United States may not like the values that whoever takes our place, so it is imperative that America maintain a strong military presence. To do this, the United States must have a strong economy. A weak America is not good for Israel — and it’s not good for America.

“As finance minister, I learned the value of... “ at which point, Maltry said he quickly interjected: “Laffer Curve!”

The PM said, “Yes, the Laffer Curve.” Maltry recalled that Netanyahu paraphrased the theory that says there’s an optimum point of taxation to maximize revenues to the government. Increasing taxes beyond that point can hurt an economy and ultimately hurt its military capabilities, under the theory.

Regarding Maltry’s question on having smaller government in the U.S.,  Nantanyahu said that governments should try to remain small, adding that governments do not produce anything — they just consume.

Another question was: “Do you read your Bible?”

Netanyahu said that this year he is doing a Bible study that will take him through it in one year. He was “very proud” of his son, who had just won the National Championship on Bible Knowledge, Maltry recalled. The PM added that, through his youth, he routinely read the Bible to his son at nights.

 Maltry said he concluded from the meeting that the PM’s top three priorities are military defense, military defense and military defense. “He really emphasized it.”

When the meeting broke up. Netanyahu  shook some hands of those nearest to him, so Maltry missed that opportunity.

Prior to the meeting, Maltry said, “We got a chance to hear from other members of Knesset (Israel’s parliament) and the defense minister. We got to go through the Jordan and the Dead Sea area. We got to see the fight going on, from the miltary post in the Golan Heights.”

While U.S. President Barack Obama has said Israel should consider moving back to the 1967 boundaries, Maltry said, based on his experience in Israel, “To suggest such a thing means your either ignorant of the situation, or incredibly naive — or desire the destruction of Israel.”

Maltry added, “Israel is a small country surrounded by hostile enemies, with a land size 650 times greater. Biblically, this was land was given to Israel. It was called Sumaria and Judea. However, it was not part of the land given to Israel in 1948, when it became an independent country. In 1967, Israel was spontaneously attacked by six Arab nations. Israel won the war and was granted the right to have essential defendable boundaries via UN resolution 242. 

Continuing, Maltry said, “To do this, you must maintain three or four things. You must maintain control of the Jordan Valley. The second thing is they could not give up control of key mountain areas, which otherwise would be giving up places where rockets could be fired.”

Under the aforementioned conditions, “The only national airport in Tel Aviv would not be safe from RPG attacks. It would reduce the narrowest width of the country from 44 miles to 9 miles. It would basically be impossible to defend. Part of that defense would be to cut off major transportation arteries.

“A last reason,” he said, is “the air control response. You need so many minutes to be able to respond from when a warning goes off. By reducing the area, you basically cut that response time in half.

“After seeing the area and talking to the individuals. ... it ain’t going to happen (taking it back to the ‘67 borders.) Maltry then reiterated, For any president of the United States” to say otherwise, “either is naive, ignorant — or wanting the destruction of Israel.”