San Leandro Bytes: San Leandro Mayor on Junket to Israel

May 11, 2004

San Leandro Mayor on Junket to Israel

San Leandro Mayor Sheila Young was one of nine US mayors participating in the 22nd Annual Jerusalem Conference of Mayors from May 9 - 15, 2004. The conference is sponsored by American Jewish Congress Council for World Jewry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Tourism and the Konrad Adenauer foundation.

Although the theme of the conference is The Role of the Mayor in Times of Crisis, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, was quoted as saying, "We believe that this visit and others like it are paving the way for a genuine turnaround in tourism for 2004 and beyond." American Jewish Congress Chairman Jack Rosen said, "Every mayor who takes part becomes an ambassador of good will for Israel..."

To that end, the mayor will get to do some tourism of her own, visiting sites in Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and the Dead Sea. As part of the conference, Mayor Young will also be visiting Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center to meet with the head of the trauma unit and to the Israeli Defense Force's Home Front Command to view a live exhibition of integrated first response. A complete list of her tourist itinerary is available here.

No word of whether the mayors will visit Jewish settlements in the occupied territories or get to see the Israeli Defense Forces perform an assassination.

Click here for the official press release from the the U.S. Conference of Mayors.