Owens joins congressional visit to Israel

WASHINGTON — Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, is spending a week in Israel with other U.S. lawmakers.

Mr. Owens’s travel is part of a series of trips for members of Congress this month to Israel, where they will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, as well as with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on the West Bank.

A total of 81 lawmakers, Democratic and Republican, will make similar trips this month, all sponsored and paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation. The group sponsors trip for U.S. lawmakers every two years, according to a report in Politico, which first reported the visit.

That number represents about a fifth of the House.

Mr. Owens left Sunday and will return next Monday, said his spokesman, Sean Magers.

Mr. Owens is among 26 lawmakers on the first trip. This is his first trip, congressionally or otherwise, to Israel, Mr. Magers said.

Politico reported that 47 first-term members will take the trip, mostly Republicans. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., will lead one group.

Mr. Owens, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, has not been particularly outspoken on U.S.-Israeli policy. He was endorsed in 2010 by the J Street Political Action Committee, which supports diplomacy, “strong American leadership” and creation of a Palestinian state to end the Israeli-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. The group mainly, but not exclusively, gives to Democratic candidates.