Wall Street Journal – by Erica Orden
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a delegation of state legislative leaders are scheduled to fly to Israel this week in the governor’s first international trip since taking office in 2011, officials said Sunday.
Mr. Cuomo and leaders including state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Coalition co-leaders Dean Skelos and Jeffrey D. Klein are set to leave Tuesday night on a commercial flight to Tel Aviv as a “demonstration of solidarity” with Israelis during the continuing conflict between the nation and Palestinians, according to the governor’s office.
During the two-day trip, the Democratic governor is expected to meet with Israeli government officials as well as with individuals affected by the conflict, including New Yorkers who live in Israel.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Mr. Cuomo would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who last month invited the governor to make the journey.
The governor’s travel to Israel follows that of other officials. Former New York City MayorMichael Bloomberg traveled to Israel in late July, flying on the Israeli airline El Al in an effort to protest a U.S. government decision to impose restrictions on flying in and out of Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, the country’s main international airport.
It also wasn’t immediately clear how the New York state trip would be paid for. Generally, when elected officials travel on such excursions, they are financed either by using public funds, campaign accounts or private sponsorships.
The journey is the result of talks, reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, that began in early July.
At the time, the governor’s office planned to send Mr. Cuomo to locations abroad including Israel and Puerto Rico ostensibly for the purpose of attracting business to Global NY, an economic-development program run by the state.
In the weeks since, however, as conflicts in the Middle East have erupted, Mr. Cuomo has shed the original stated reason for the trip and instead is venturing overseas as a political gesture of support.
“This is complicated and there’s pain on both sides—I get that,” Mr. Cuomo said late last month.
“But I also get that this country has a relationship with Israel that is very important, and New Yorkers do and personally I do. I’ve been to Israel before, I’ve been to Israel during times of terrorist attacks before, as a sign of solidarity,” he said.
On Sunday, Mr. Cuomo, who will travel with a small group of acquaintances including his brother-in-law, fashion designer Kenneth Cole, said: “As Hamas and other terrorist organizations continue to threaten Israel, now is the time to deliver that message of solidarity in person.”
New York has the largest population of Jews outside of Israel.
Mr. Cuomo, who is said to have national political aspirations and faces re-election in the fall, would likely earn international attention for the trip.
It also would distract from a difficult few weeks at home, as news reports have focused on his administration’s handling of an anticorruption commission, a matter now under investigation by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
It also would give Mr. Cuomo a credential common to ambitious governors.
In 2012, Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie traveled on a “Jersey to Jerusalem Trade Mission” and met with Mr. Netanyahu.
Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry has visited the country several times, most recently last fall.
Mr. Cuomo, however, has traveled beyond New York state only a handful of times since taking office. He hasn’t visited Israel since 2002, during an unsuccessful gubernatorial bid.
At the time, he gave an interview to a local Jewish newspaper saying of traveling to the country as governor that “It is something I would like to do personally, and something I feel professionally the governor could do and should do.”
Write to Erica Orden at erica.orden@wsj.com
“During the two-day trip, the Democratic governor is expected to meet with Israeli government officials as well as with individuals affected by the conflict, including New Yorkers who live in Israel.”
Off to kiss some Zionist jew butts.
An errant SAM would be greatly appreciated.
And so Sauron assembles all evil in Mordor to do his bidding and destroy the world of men while Orcs pillage and destroy the innocent.
Amazing how fiction can often predict reality.
guess it’s time for more marching orders…… damn I wish I had the remote for that airplane
So, obvously, “ROCKETS FROM GAZA” is Zio-media propaganda. If there really were “ROCKETS FROM GAZA” going into Israel, would Cuomo and a contingent of politicians go into Israel?