New York City’s mayor combined the personal and the political during his latest visit to Israel.
During two days there last week, he took part in the dedication of a refurbished emergency rescue service center in Jerusalem, and spent a morning in a Negev city that has been the target of repeated rocket attacks from Gaza.
At the headquarters of the Magen David Adom at Jerusalem’s northern entrance, he laid the cornerstone for the 40-year-old building that will be named for his late father, William. With him, above, second from left, are, from left, his sister, Marjorie Tiven, his mother, Charlotte, and Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, far right.
“I think that my father would really have a smile on his face,” Bloomberg said. “He knew something about taking care of others.”He also met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and the families of two Israeli soldiers who were captured by Hezbollah during Israel’s war in Lebanon last summer.
In Sderot, the city that has come under attack hundred of times since Israel withdrew from nearby Gaza in 2005, he made a stop at a police station to examine spent and rusty rocket shells. In the picture, at right, he stands with Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, right.
“I think this town, as much as any place you’ll ever visit, tells you why we can never negotiate with terrorists,” Bloomberg said. “Sadly, there are people on the other side of that valley who shoot missiles … and these missiles kill.”
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