Bikes, fish and one very slipp
IT STARTED out as the kind of universal bear hug that only Boris Johnson can deliver.
Whether it was his off-script comments during his bicycle ride with Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai, out-staring a grey mullet in Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market, or prompting bursts of laughter during his Winston Churchill memorial lecture, the indomitable London mayor lavished on Israel his usual combination of humour, wit and erudition — and it went down a treat.
On Wednesday, however, the conflict caught up with him.
Comments he had made during his tour attacking those behind the BDS movement prompted Palestinian activists to make threats against him on social media, and most of Mr Johnson’s planned engagements with Palestinian groups were then cancelled over security concerns.
Mr Johnson’s backing for this correspondent — who was banned from attending one meeting because of my Israeli passport — added to the furore.
Israel, on the other hand, greeted Mr Johnson rapturously.
Ploughing tirelessly through two 15-hour days, the mayor rung open the Tel Aviv stock exchange and wandered through Jerusalem’s Old City, from holy site to holy site, enjoying face recognition afforded few foreign mayors.
In the Muslim quarter, one man, opening up his shop, shouted out “Prime Minister! Prime Minister!” As the familiar blond mop approached the Kotel, another passer-by shouted out: “Good job, Boris! Follow after David!”
In Tel Aviv, Mr Johnson held a public conversation with Israel’s former president Shimon Peres, who urged a few hundred Arab and Jewish youths in attendance to create “twitter storms”.
Mr Johnson held private meetings in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem with high-tech entrepreneurs and rode another bike through the drizzling rain to highlight the advantages of Mobileye technology, which is now preventing vehicles from running over pedestrians in Ealing.
After a mini-van equipped with the technology dodged the helmeted mayor, a Mobileye executive claimed humorously: “We saved the mayor of
Israelis greeted the London mayor rapturously