WASHINGTON (JTA) — Mike Lee, Utah’s senator-elect and among the most prominent of Tea Party conservatives, met in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lee, who ousted moderate Republicans in primaries in the recent election, toured Israel last week under the auspices of the American Israel Education Foundation, an affiliate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups are reaching out to such conservatives in a bid to persuade them not to cut foreign aid. The Tea Party insurgency helped the Republicans sweep the U.S. House of Representatives and cut into the Democrats’ majority in the Senate by promising cuts in government spending.
