The news is filled with discussions and meetings between Israeli and American officials. You’d think that Israel was the 51st state. Or maybe Iowa. From Haaretz:

U.S. governors Rick Perry of Texas and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, Republicans tapped for 2016 presidential runs, are visiting Israel. Perry, who has visited Israel multiple times in the past, was in the country this week to announce the planned Nazareth campus of Texas A&M University. But he also had meetings with Israeli leaders, including on Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will meet later this week with President Shimon Peres. Perry is being accompanied by Fred Zeidman, a major GOP campaign donor, and Matthew Brooks, the director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Sandoval is making his first visit to Israel, where he is studying desert farming techniques. The rising Latino star of the Republican party met with Peres on Sunday.

The big prize on the Republican side is of course Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire supporter of Israel who gave $30 million to Mitt Romney last year and millions more to Newt Gingrich, in an effort to stop the peace process.

The Jerusalem Post describes huge delegations accompanying the governors, who spoke at the same water conference:

Traveling alongside Perry to [Water Technology conference] were two separate delegations from his state – one from the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce and another sponsored by the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange. Not to be outshone, Sandoval also told participants of the welcome partnerships they would find in Nevada. He, too, arrived with a 50-member delegation of Nevadans eager to hear about the Israeli water industry – the first such Nevadan trade mission to Israel, he said.

I didn’t know there was a Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce. As for the AJC’s Project Interchange, it is designed to build connections between Israel and world leaders.

Speaking of world leaders, John Kerry is spending a lot of time placating Netanyahu this week. “Kerry reassures Israel” on Iran is the Times headline.

Yesterday the State Department’s first order of business at the briefing was about an Israeli delegation.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the daily briefing. I have a couple things at the top, and then I’m happy to open it up for questions. The first: Today at the State Department, we are hosting the U.S.-Israel Strategic Dialogue, the highest level regularly scheduled diplomatic meeting between the two countries. … Deputy Secretary Burns is leading the U.S. delegation. He is joined by several other U.S. officials who will be discussing a wide range of issues with their Israeli counterparts. The Israeli delegation is led by Minister for Strategic and Intelligence Affairs Responsible for International Relations Yuval Steinitz. …

F