Dozens of those selected to accompany Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a taxpayer-subsidized trip to Israel have also donated generously to the Conservative Party of Canada in recent years, iPolitics has learned.

In fact, 43 per cent of those who fall into the category of business people donated directly to the Conservative Party’s national coffers in the period between 2007 and September 2013. Detailed results for the final quarter of 2013 are not yet available.

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In that one category of donation alone, the people on the trip with Harper gave the Conservative Party more than $152,000 during that period. While some have donated to other parties, a quick check by iPolitics could only find $28,772 worth of donations to the Liberal Party of Canada during the period studied by those on the trip with Harper and only $7,168 to the New Democrats.

Overall, at least 60 of the 208 people accompanying Harper donated directly to the Conservative Party’s national fund between 2007 and September 2013. That does not include any donations that may have been given directly to candidates or riding associations.

In large part, it is those who fall into the category of business people who are responsible for the lions’ share of the donations to the Conservatives. Business people on the trip donated $133,155 to the Conservatives between 2007 and September 2013.

Some of those chosen to accompany Harper are some of the party’s most generous donors – writing cheques for amounts at or near the maximum for donations each year. Others have given the party more modest amounts or only given occasionally. A few donated to another party as well as the Conservatives.

In some cases, those participating in the trip are accompanied by their wives.

In general, those on the trip who are representing Jewish groups were less likely to have donated to the Conservatives than the business people. Only 13 per cent of the those who are identified on the list as representing a Jewish group or a synagogue had donated to the Conservatives since 2007 and the amounts were generally more modest.

In some cases, those on the trip have political ties to the Conservatives. While those like the cabinet ministers, senators and MPs are higher profile, the delegation also includes former Conservative aides like Dan Mader and Lisa Samson who now work with Strategy Corp, former Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day and Stanley Hartt, who served as chief of staff to former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Prominent Jewish Canadians who served equally high positions in Liberal governments like Liberal MP Irwin Cotler who has close connections to Israel and Eddie Goldenberg, who served as chief of staff to Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien, are not on the trip.

Harper’s first trip to Israel has made both headlines and history in recent days. Monday, Harper became the first Canadian prime minister to address Israel’s Knesset. However, he is also bringing an exceptionally large group with him to Israel – the official delegation including himself and his wife totals 31 and there are 208 in the accompanying delegation.

While the full cost of the trip is not yet known, officials from the prime minister’s office have indicated that the government will be picking up much of the costs associated with the delegation and the accompanying party.

In recent years, the Conservative Party has been vying with the Liberal Party for the support of Canada’s Jewish community. While the Jewish community long tended to lean towards the Liberals, after Harper shifted Canada’s position on the Middle East to bring it closer to Israel, many members of the Jewish community began to vote with their wallets for the Conservatives.

The Conservatives have also actively wooed members of Canada’s Jewish community. Some have been surprised to receive cards at their homes marking Jewish holidays. Last year Harper hosted a Hannukah celebration at the prime minister’s residence, inviting members of the Jewish community to celebrate.

Liberal insiders admit privately that the move by many members of the Jewish community to the Conservatives hit their party finances.

In August, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau announced that Stephen Bronfman, a member of one of the wealthiest families in Canada and one of the most prominent in Canada’s Jewish community, would become his party’s chief fundraiser.

At the time, Bronfman admitted that bringing Canada’s Jewish community back to the Liberals would be a challenge.

“Harper and the Conservatives have been very pro-Israel and we’ve got to win back the community so we’ll work hard on that.”

However, Bronfman also suggested at the time that Trudeau may be closer to Israel than Harper.

“Stephen Harper has never been to Israel,” Stephen Bronfman said bluntly. “I took Justin there five years ago and he was referring at the end of the trip to Israel as we. So I thought that was pretty good.”

This week, Harper is not only visiting Israel but reinforcing the Conservative Party’s ties with some of those donors Bronfman may have been planning to win back to the Liberals.