Gov. Tom Wolf mixed state work with personal time in Israel trip

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf returned Thursday to the United States after a previously undisclosed trip to Israel that his office said mixed personal travel with state business.

Wolf’s spokesman said the governor and his wife, first lady Frances Wolf, spent three days at the end of their trip engaged in cultural and civic exchange programs, as well as economic development efforts.

His office said the trip was not announced until it was over for security reasons.

The Wolfs paid their own travel costs, but were accompanied by two people who work on international business for the Department of Community and Economic Development, as well as state-paid security for part of the excursion.

Wolf’s office said Jewish “stakeholders” from Pennsylvania accompanied them. The governor met with Israelis about technology, health care and agriculture, his office said.

The Wolfs went to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, and planted a tree at a memorial for victims of the mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 in which 11 worshippers were killed.