told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that the settlements, which some consider to be illegal, needed to stop.

Perry also suggested that the U.S. should withhold funds from the U.N. if they vote for Palestinian statehood.

"I think there are a number of things that we should do if the U.N. does, in fact, vote to allow statehood in direct conflict with the Oslo accords. One of those is obviously having the United States send a clear message to the U.N. that we're not going to support you with our dollars anymore."

He ended the press conference with the claim that the president had contributed to violence in the Middle East by apologizing for American exceptionalism.

"For three years, the Middle East has heard a wavering and aimless foreign policy and they've seen it all to often out of this White House, apologizing for America, apologizing for America's exceptionalism," the candidate insisted. "I think that message has been the driving factor in the instability in the Middle East."