Kerry's first trip abroad as Secretary.

[Mass]

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/02/19/kerry_s_first_trip_will_be_to_europe_and_the_middle_east

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will embark next week on a two-week tour of Europe and the Middle East, with a heavy focus on Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Kerry will leave Feb. 24 on his first overseas voyage since replacing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and will visit the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, outgoing spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement Tuesday.

"He's characterizing this first trip more broadly as a listening tour," Nuland explained.

It's an ambitious trip that will bring Kerry back to Washington on March 7, two weeks before President Barack Obama is set to travel to Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan. But Kerry won't be going to any of those countries, despite some chatter around State that he had wanted to include those stops.
...

A long trip, lots of people to meet, even if he has met with many of these people already, but all the media seem to be interested (and at least Josh Rogin does not include that on the first line of his article or in the title, as other do) is that he will not go to Israel .

[JI7]

1. i read somewhere else that he will go with Obama to Israel

[karynnj]

2. Yet when there were rumors that his first trip would be to Turkey and other Middle Eastern points,

there were articles from the FP pundits that it would be a mistake to go to Israel because there would be nothing accomplished.

This is a contrast with how they treated routine HRC trips at the beginning of her tenure as the best diplomacy ever. I am not surprised that they are treating Kerry the same - and I actually think that it might be better that Kerry have a lower profile - as I don't think the higher profile helped anyone but HRC.