Governor Newsom To Travel To Israel En Route To China

Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that he will be making a brief 1 day stop in Israel to meet with victims of the Israeli-Hamas war before moving on to his trip to China.

Earlier this week, Newsom unveiled his Chinese trip itinerary, which includes stops in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. While Newsom officials called the trip a “climate-focused tour,” complete with visits to a wind farm and Tesla’s new Chinese gigafactory, critics have said that the tour ignores current issues with China, such as industrial espionage and human rights violations.

“California and China hold the keys to solving the climate crisis,” said Newsom on his trip Wednesday. “As two of the world’s largest economies, our partnership is essential to delivering climate action for our communities and beyond.

“Our decades-long work together proves what we can accomplish together – cleaning the air, accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, protecting people from extreme weather and conserving lands and oceans.”

However, his trip was abruptly extended by one day on Thursday. Newsom announced on Twitter that he would be leaving on Thursday to fly to Israel, bypassing his usual press release or press conference method. According to his post, he will be visiting with victims of the Israeli-Hamas war and will be offering support from California.

“I’m on my way to Israel,” tweeted Newsom on Thursday. “I’ll be meeting with those impacted by the horrific terrorist attacks and offering California’s support.”

I’m on my way to Israel.

I’ll be meeting with those impacted by the horrific terrorist attacks and offering California’s support.

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 19, 2023

Newsom Spokeswoman Erin Mellon added later on Thursday that “The Governor adjusted his planned international trip and will briefly visit Israel ahead of going to China. While in Israel, the Governor will meet with those impacted by the violence.”

Newsom’s sudden change of plans come amidst a growing contingent of U.S. lawmakers visiting Israel in the past week. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden was in Israel for a little more than 7 hours expressing support for the country before returning back to Washington to give a speech on aid to Israel and Ukraine Thursday night. New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) was in Israel on Thursday along with Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) meeting with Israeli victims of the Hamas attacks. In addition, many other Democratic and Republican lawmakers have since announced similar visits in the near future.

“Having a major leader from the U.S. come to your country, meet with victims, and saying that they support you is big,” said Gus Peterson, a consultant who has helped plan international visits by prominent U.S. citizens in the past, to the Globe. “Newsom and these other politicians have many faults, but the gesture there is nice. Can’t take that away.”

“However, from prior experience, having a ton of people like this suddenly visit is also a huge headache. A bunch of American politicians, including the President, visit during a time of war is very stressing on Israel. That’s a lot of security forces needing to be shifted to these people when the resources are badly needed elsewhere.”

“You can argue that Newsom’s visit made sense, and Israel does like having such prominent support. But so many coming at once is a problem. And a bunch of journalists will be with them covering this, and many begin to question if they are there out of the good of their heart, or if there are other motives. I know Newsom might be looking at a future presidential run, and him meeting victims makes one hell of an image.”

“I helped with other Middle East trips with politicians a few of whom were looking at another crack at running for office. There was one trip about a decade ago where we had to go with a smaller charter plane for a bunch of former Congressional representatives and had to essentially kick all the press off onto another plane. No one would be taking their picture when they landed. When we told them that, they all said that they wouldn’t go in that case and waited on a bigger plane. That’s why I’m a bit cynical about Newsom’s motives here, as well as why others are doing this. I’ve seen politicians in the past do this solely for press purposes. I’m not saying Newsom is, but the way he is doing this has shades of that, especially by having to reroute his plane all the sudden.

“The visit should be interesting, but like any trip like this, we need to see what he does when the cameras are off him. Is he still visiting victims, or is he in his car back to the airport? That goes for any politician, Republican or Democrat, but with Newsom’s sudden trip, that kind of thing says it all.”

Newsom is to land in Israel on Friday before leaving for China later that day.