SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Mayor Gavin Newsom is heading to Israel on Wednesday to tour the area with local business leaders.

Organized by the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation’s Business Leadership Council, the trip has been partially funded by private donations, according to the organization. Newsom’s representatives would not comment on the cost of the trip, or from where the remainder of the funding wascoming.

The mayor will travel with 107 others to network and consider business opportunities with Israeli entrepreneurs and businessman in the biotechnology, green technology, clean technology and bio-fuels, according to Jewish Community Foundation President John Pritzker.

Traveling with Newsom will be Robert Blum, the president and CEO of biopharmaceutical company Cytokinetics, and Bobby Lent, the chairman of Traiana Inc., a New York-based software company.

Pritzger said an Israeli initiative to make all cars electric piqued the mayor’s interest.

Newsom will take part in a clean-tech event to learn about the Middle Eastern country’s efforts on alternative energy and bio-fuels. He will meet with the mayor of sister city Haifa.

Newsom will also meet with the mayor of Tel Aviv and receive a briefing from a senior Israeli foreign ministry official, according to the Jewish organization.

In Tel Aviv, Newsom will visit the site of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination and tour the Holocaust Memorial Museum — Yad Vashem.

Graeme Boushey, a politics professor at San Francisco State University, said the trip could bear political fruit for Newsom, who is considering a run for governor — but more from the technology side than perhaps the pro-Israel lobby.

“He’s more interested in the Silicon Valley tech money,” Boushey said. “It’s symbolic. He’s playing governor.”

dsmith@examiner.com

Comments from Examiner Readers

9:25 PM MST on Sun., May. 4, 2008 re: "Business focus of Newsom�s trip to Israel"

Jimmy said:
To all "anti-Zionists": "Anti-Zionism" is a rather thin veil for anti-Semitism. Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people have a right to self-determination and autonomy in their historic homeland. Are Jews the only people in the world who don't deserve their own sovereign nation? If history has showed us that ANY particular group needs a homeland to look out for their interests, then it is certainly the Jews. Amazing how anti-Semitism still exists, just under a different guise.

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11:50 AM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "Business focus of Newsom�s trip to Israel"

Examiner Reader said:
Gavin Newsom�s trip to Israel is an absolute shame. He and the Israel Lobby attempt to legitimate and sponsor a terrorist state which has unleashed horrors on its occupied people for more than a generation. The Mayor also makes it clear that money and special interest are more critical to his leadership than popular opinion. The Bay Area and San Francisco are home to an overwhelming majority who oppose the Israeli occupation and its human rights violations. We certainly do not need to encourage more subsidies to an already American subsidized state that terrorizes its occupied masses.

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8:21 PM MST on Tue., Apr. 29, 2008 re: "Business focus of Newsom�s trip to Israel"

Examiner Reader said:
wow...can't believe the zionist comment. I wonder if there were no jewish people in the world who would everyone then find as a the evil of the world?

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10:39 AM MST on Tue., Apr. 29, 2008 re: "Business focus of Newsom�s trip to Israel"

Examiner Reader said:
obvious zionism of gavin newsom

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10:23 AM MST on Tue., Apr. 29, 2008 re: "Business focus of Newsom�s trip to Israel"

Examiner Reader said:
Dear Previous Poster, You are the typical self-appointed "mindguard" of the progressive tyranny of the City. You have the illusion of unanimity in your view of reality, belief in inherent morality...the list goes on and on. Actually your writing has all the characteristics of Germany in the late 30s. Truly a progressive facist...

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9:48 AM MST on Tue., Apr. 29, 2008 re: "Business focus of Newsom�s trip to Israel"

Examiner Reader said:
Is the eco-chic spokemodel Mayor flying on private jet with Dick Blum, DiFi's hubby who has profited billions off votes she has made? These people are total sleaze. They are vestiges of the past, including republican Newsom, get out of the way for Obama.

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6:05 PM MST on Mon., Mar. 31, 2008 re: "Newsom�s sports injury is back"

Examiner Reader said:
Maybe this man needs to stick to playing 1st base for a softball team and get someone else to run the city. He already has his sites on the governor position and he has had his sites on that spot for some time, don't let him try to persuade you to believe anything different.

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