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A journey of solidarity

Skelos and fellow NY leaders travel to Israel to show their support

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New York’s governmental leaders took a quick trip to Israel last week to show that the state stands with Israel in its current conflict with Hamas.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo invited Senate Majority Co-Leaders Dean Skelos and Jeffery Klein and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to accompany him on a 26-hour trip from Tuesday to Thursday. The Herald sat down with Skelos shortly after he returned.

The trip was paid for with the politicians’ campaign funds, not with taxpayer money. The leaders flew commercially, on the Israeli airline El Al.

“I was absolutely overwhelmed when we got on the plane by the amount of support, and the people that were traveling to Israel that were aware of our mission,” Skelos said. “A number of my constituents were on the plane.”

One of the first things the group did was meet with Israeli officials who briefed them on the conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu filled them in on the attacks by Hamas and Israel’s response. “It was going great, then he said, ‘I have to leave now because I have a phone call coming in with President Obama in 14 minutes,’” Skelos recounted. Before Netanyahu left, the delegation presented him with a New York state flag. New York has a population of 1.7 million Jews — the largest population outside Israel.

The group had lunch in Jerusalem at a New York-style pizzeria called Big Apple Pizza, where they dined with some fellow New Yorkers. “One of the boys that was at the table with us, he was from West Hempstead, and he was studying Hebrew there for two months,” Skelos said. “A lot of New Yorkers and Long Islanders were there on vacation or visiting family while we were there.”

The delegation was taken out into the countryside to see one of the installations of Israel’s Iron Dome, the missile defense system with which the Israel Defense Force has shot down incoming Hamas rockets, which can reach most of the country from launching points in Gaza.

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