Gavin Newsom in Jerusalem in 2008 photo/dan pine
How the trips will affect these office holders long-term is uncertain. However, for many, the trips never stop reverberating — such as for San Francisco’s then-Mayor Gavin Newsom, who was part of an Israel trip in May 2008.
Now lieutenant governor of California, Newsom, along with wife Jennifer Seibel, his fiancée at that time, took part in a mission sponsored by the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation. In Israel, Newsom toured high-tech companies, met with counterparts in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, and received security briefings at the Lebanese and West Bank borders.
He said this week he was struck by “how remarkably small Israel is. From a security perspective [the trip] reinforced what I always believed: Standing there right on the border, you understand the politics a lot better.”
Like other Bay Area politicians, Newsom said his pre-trip expectations were formed from exposure to media.
“Invariably that was framed in context of conflict, of stress, of friction,” he said. “I experienced something 180 degrees different. In the context of policymaking, it’s a reminder that one cannot substitute actual experience with an academic experience. It’s essential for anyone in positions of public life that they experience Israel first-hand.”
He said the trip helped him connect more deeply with the economic and cultural ties between Israel and the Bay Area. Along those lines, as lieutenant governor he has pushed for the opening of a permanent California trade office in Israel.
There used to be one there, and in other parts of the world, but all were eliminated in budget cuts in 2003.
“I thought this was an overreaction,” Newsom said. “Rather than reforming it, they eliminated it. California is competing with states like Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, which all have foreign offices. California has none anywhere.”
Moreover, said Newsom, a onetime wine merchant and restaurateur, “I say this all the time: Some of the best food I ever had was in Israel.”