Cuomo, Visiting Israel, Joins Growing U.S. List
JERUSALEM — It is high season for travel to the Holy Land.
The previous New York City mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, squeezed onto an El Al commercial flight in an everyman’s show of support. Members of Congress, eager to report back to their constituents, are carving time out of their schedules.
And on Wednesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, who has resolutely avoided anything resembling the résumé-burnishing travel of a presidential hopeful, arrived here for a state visit that included a stop at the Western Wall. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, eager to showcase the support of prominent American leaders, set aside time for a meeting and remarks from side-by-side lecterns.
Summertime trips to Israel are nothing new for American officials, but amid the fighting in Gaza, more and more of them are seizing on their annual sojourns or booking last-minute excursions to make a political statement. Representative Steve Israel, a Democrat from Long Island, just got back; Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island, will depart this month.
On Wednesday, The Boston Globe reported that Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — considered by many the most serious threat to Hillary Rodham Clinton in a Democratic presidential primary — is planning to join a congressional trip to Israel after the fall midterm elections.
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