Just in:
Experience Ultimate Shopping Freedom at 4.4 Shopee Spree: Don’t Worry, Shop Shopee! // Ingdan Announces 2023 Annual Results // Hope for Respite as UAE Endorses UN Plea for Gaza Truce // US reiterates concern over Kejriwal arrest, Cong accounts // First-Ever Fortune Innovation Forum Draws Top Global Leaders to Hong Kong, Promoting Agendas On Collective Cross-Sector Advancement // Sharjah Chamber Breaks Ground on Final Expansion with New HQ Pact // Lisboeta Macau’s world first LINE FRIENDS PRESENTS CASA DE AMIGO and BROWN & FRIENDS CAFE & BISTRO has officially opened // Infineon and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering jointly develop ship electrification technology // Samsung Partners National Heritage Board to Bring a Slice of Singapore’s Cultural Heritage to Samsung The Frame TV // Renewables Surge Sets Record, But Global Equity Lags // Sunshine’s Debut Features Leave Tech World Scratching Its Head // Global Audience to Witness Thrill of Dubai World Cup // U.S. Compliance Takes Center Stage at OKX Following Industry Jitters // Sharpening the Focus: Sharjah Health Department Refines Evaluation Criteria for “Healthy Schools Programme” // Ajman Celebrates Conclusion of Ramadan Activities with Grand Ceremony // Konica Minolta is named ASEAN 2023 Market Leader in Colour Light and Mid Digital Production Printers // Court Sides with Coinbase on Wallet Service, But Staking Program Remains in Limbo // Meta Earth Official Website Launch: The Pioneer Explorer in the Modular Public Blockchain Domain // No running of govt from jail, says Delhi Lt Governor // Following the Money Trail: US and UK Investigate $20 Billion in USDT Transfers Tied to Sanctioned Russian Exchange //
HomeNewsboxCuomo, Citing ‘Wave of Anti-Semitism,’ Pays Impromptu Visit to Israel

Cuomo, Citing ‘Wave of Anti-Semitism,’ Pays Impromptu Visit to Israel

05cuomo facebookJumbo

In Jerusalem — where the governor will spend most if not all of his time outside the airport — he will meet with the mayor, Nir Barkat, and a group of business leaders.

The impromptu nature of Mr. Cuomo’s trip is not accidental. With a rash of anti-Semitic threats and racist vandalism occurring in New York and nationwide, the governor said he had made a deliberate decision to travel to Israel now as a show of support.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The undercurrent is this: There has been a wave of anti-Semitism, and it has been very disturbing to members of the Jewish community,” he said in a telephone interview on Friday. That anxiety, he said, needed to be addressed with substantial, intercontinental gestures.

“Yeah, you could go down the block to a temple, but if you’re really sincere, you do more,” Mr. Cuomo said. “You act more boldly. And the actions should be commensurate to the grievances.”

That said, Mr. Cuomo also added an appearance at the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan on Saturday just before heading off for his 10-hour flight.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat in his second term, insisted that the trip was not politically motivated, but a genuine response to the surge in anti-Semitic acts, while noting that it would also include state business, including several economic announcements.

The trip is being paid for by the state, not by Mr. Cuomo’s campaign, though its exact cost was unclear. Still, experts said the trip was likely to pay dividends among Jewish voters and supporters, a core constituency for any elected official from New York, which has the largest population of Jewish residents outside Israel.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The Jewish community, that is still very important in New York electoral politics,” said Gerald Benjamin, a professor of political science at the State University at New Paltz, “and in the financing of them and national campaigns.”

Mr. Benjamin was referring to speculation surrounding Mr. Cuomo, whose name has come up as a possible Democratic candidate for president in 2020.

But on Friday, Mr. Cuomo spoke in candid terms about the connection — or lack of one, he said — between his advocacy and his ambitions.

“I’ve always stayed away from the presidential stuff because of what happened with my father,” Mr. Cuomo said, apparently referring to the wistful what-ifs over Mario M. Cuomo’s flirtation with — and ultimate decision against — a run for president in 1992.

“That’s not what this is about,” the governor said. “This is something I’ve always done, and this is an action I would always take.”

Mr. Cuomo’s timing is also either ingenious or auspicious: On Friday, the anti-Semitic threats became major news again after federal officials — including Mr. Cuomo’s sometime foil, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York — announced the arrest of a former reporter accused of making some of those threats.

Mr. Cuomo’s last trip to Israel, in 2014, was also pegged to the news: at a time of military action in the Gaza Strip. The governor visited Gaza during that trip, his first foreign excursion as governor, touring a tunnel near the border that Israel said had been covertly built by Hamas. He declined an invitation to visit Palestinian territory during the trip, and has said he would not have time to meet with Palestinian Arabs on this visit.

The 2014 trip was not a solo mission: Mr. Cuomo led a delegation of elected officials, including the then-speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, and the then-leader of the Senate, Dean G. Skelos.

This time, Mr. Cuomo is alone; both Mr. Skelos and Mr. Silver were convicted of federal corruption charges, and their successors — Carl E. Heastie in the Assembly and John J. Flanagan in the Senate — did not come along.

That may provide Mr. Cuomo with more room to shine, though he denied that seeking the spotlight had anything to do with making what amounted to 12,000-mile day trip.

“Yes, it’s a long trip for a short period of time and yes, it’s a dramatic action,” Mr. Cuomo said. “And that’s the point.”

Continue reading the main story

NYtimes

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT
Just in:
Superland Announced Annual Results for 2023, 2023 Net Profit Increased approximately 39.5% to approximately HK$22.2 million as Compared to the 2022 Adjusted One // Experience Ultimate Shopping Freedom at 4.4 Shopee Spree: Don’t Worry, Shop Shopee! // Arvind Kejriwal Was Used By BJP In 2011 Movement To Take On The Congress // Experts come together to support updating the city’s nature conservation masterplan // Lisboeta Macau’s world first LINE FRIENDS PRESENTS CASA DE AMIGO and BROWN & FRIENDS CAFE & BISTRO has officially opened // Sharpening the Focus: Sharjah Health Department Refines Evaluation Criteria for “Healthy Schools Programme” // Universal Language for Healthcare: General Authority Embraces Global Coding System // Following the Money Trail: US and UK Investigate $20 Billion in USDT Transfers Tied to Sanctioned Russian Exchange // Global Audience to Witness Thrill of Dubai World Cup // Ajman Celebrates Conclusion of Ramadan Activities with Grand Ceremony // First-Ever Fortune Innovation Forum Draws Top Global Leaders to Hong Kong, Promoting Agendas On Collective Cross-Sector Advancement // Hope for Respite as UAE Endorses UN Plea for Gaza Truce // Emirates Post Speeds Up Deliveries for GCC with Special Day // No running of govt from jail, says Delhi Lt Governor // Ingdan Announces 2023 Annual Results // AI Boost for Galaxy Devices: Samsung Expands One UI 6.1 Update // Infineon and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering jointly develop ship electrification technology // Renewables Surge Sets Record, But Global Equity Lags // Meta Earth Official Website Launch: The Pioneer Explorer in the Modular Public Blockchain Domain // Konica Minolta is named ASEAN 2023 Market Leader in Colour Light and Mid Digital Production Printers //