Palin visits Israel as she mulls presidential run

(CNN) — Following in the footsteps of several other Republicans considering a presidential bid, Sarah Palin was in Jerusalem on Monday to meet with Israeli leaders.

Other potential GOP candidates to visit Israel in recent months include Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, and Mike Huckabee.

Palin is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with other politicians during her two-day visit, the Jerusalem Post reported.

“As the world confronts sweeping changes and new realities, I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the key issues facing his country, our ally Israel,” Palin said in a message posted on her political action committee’s website.

The former Alaska governor began her trip in India — another key U.S. ally in the region — where she slammed the Obama administration for “dithering on Libya.”

On Saturday, Palin delivered the keynote address at the India Today Conclave, an annual gathering of India’s elite including business leaders, politicians and academics. It is sponsored by an Indian Communications company and named for the India Today magazine.

The potential presidential candidate addressed the importance of energy and the influence of India’s relationship with the United States in prepared remarks titled “My Vision of America.”

But when she sat down for the question-and-answer session with the editor-in-chief of India Today, Aroon Purie, her attention turned to topics of a presidential nature.

On Libya she said “It would have been different.” Remarking that the U.S. has a tradition of not criticizing the president’s foreign policy while on “foreign soil,” she continued, “Certainly, there would have been more decisiveness, more commitment to those that are freedom fighters, that they know that America is on their side.”

“There would have been more decisiveness, less dithering,” Palin stated.

Her international trek could prove to be a key component in any 2012 presidential bid.

“She has to be able to say in case she hops in she went through the motions like the other guys,” GOP consultant Ford O’Connell, who worked on the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008, told CNN.

Palin’s trip is expected to help her bolster her foreign policy credentials. O’Connell said that issue is probably Palin’s weakest, pointing out with the recent events in Japan, Libya and Egypt.

“Foreign policy is moving up the ladder. If you want to be president, you have to have a good understanding of the global economy in the 21st century” as well as these issues, he said.

Such a trip, as the one she is undertaking, is a must for someone considering a run, he said. “If she doesn’t do it, it will hurt her,” he said.

As she has for the past months, Palin continues to say she is “contemplating” a presidential run.

The former Alaska governor enjoys large support among Republicans and her speeches draw large crowds, but her disapproval numbers among GOP voters continue to rise. There is mixed opinion among many unaligned Republican consultants on whether she will end up actually launching a bid for the nomination.

She visited the key early voting states of Iowa and South Carolina last year during her book tour and recently hired a political veteran as chief of staff for her political action committee. She is not known, however, to have taken any other concrete steps that might indicate a possible campaign.

CNN’s Kevin Bohn and Rebecca Stewart contributed to this report.