Ari Fleischer kicked off the Republican Jewish Coalition’s voter drive in Israel this week, as Mitt Romney announced a high-profile Jerusalem fundraiser at the end of this month.

Mitt Romney meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in January 2011. photo/jta-gpo-amos ben gershom

Fleischer, an RJC board member and former press secretary for President George W. Bush, and RJC executive director Matt Brooks spoke to an audience of about 80 dual U.S.-Israeli citizens— most of whom appeared to be Romney supporters — July 10 in Jerusalem.

The two were in Israel to persuade American Jews living there to register to vote and cast a ballot for Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

The event and the Brooks-Fleischer trip was organized by iVoteIsrael, a U.S. nonprofit dedicated to registering Americans to vote in Israel. Under each seat lay an absentee ballot registration form and a pen.

About three-quarters of U.S. Jewish voters opted for Barack Obama in 2008, but about that same percentage of Americans living in Israel voted for his GOP opponent, Sen. John McCain, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Jerusalem Post reported that a Romney fundraiser will take place July 29 in Jerusalem and will cost $60,000 a plate.

The July 29 date is the first indication of when Romney will be in Israel. His plan to visit was announced earlier this month. — jta