In Israel, O’Malley Talks Jobs, Foreign Policy and, of Course, 2016

JERUSALEM - Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland said Wednesday that he would spend the second half of this year mulling whether to run for president in 2016. He seems already to have a campaign theme: jobs and innovation.

At least that’s what he insisted was the sole focus of his eight-day trip to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, and pretty much all he wanted to talk about with a handful of reporters he had summoned to the King David Hotel for coffee. “I’m sure all of you will ask me foreign policy questions,” he said as he opened the floor. “I respect your right to ask them, and I hope you’ll respect my right to shy away from answering them.”

And so, on the news of the day â€" apparent differences between the Obama administration and the Israeli military on whether chemical weapons had been deployed by the Syrian military â€" Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat, deferred to the president’s judgment. “It’s certainly one of the great challenges,” he allowed.

Asked whether the American people, weary from a decade of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, would be ready to engage in another military operation to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Mr. O’Malley avoided specifics. “I believe that the president will make that call,” he said, “and the president will have the primary responsibility of making that case to the American people and also to Congress.”

How about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? “All of us hope for peace in the Middle East.”

Governor O’Malley, 50, said it was his third visit to Israel, and that he had brought with him about 50 high-tech executives, Jewish leaders, and Maryland officials for what is essentially a trade mission. After a side trip to Jordan in which he met with Prince Faisal - “What we spoke about was the huge challenge that the ongoing conflict in Syria has for the entire region” - much of his itinerary here is filled with companies that have offices in his home state, including one that makes radar for the vaunted Iron Dome missile defense system.

Mr. O’Malley was also set to meet with President Shimon Peres of Israel; two rising stars in Israeli politics, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, both of whom head economic ministries; and Salaam Fayyad, who resigned earlier this month as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. (Scheduling with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was still being worked out.)

“I’m hoping in discussions with him to learn,” Mr. O’Malley said of Mr. Fayyad. “That’s part of the obligation that goes along with travel.”

The visit comes two months after Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican similarly put forth as a potential 2016 candidate, made headlines during his own trip here by referring to Jerusalem as its capital, a point of contention with the Palestinians. Might he face off against Governor O’Malley?

“I plan for the latter half of this year to dedicate some more thought time, reflection time, to the question of whether or not I would run,” he said Tuesday. “The key question in running for any office is having a clear and refined understanding of the shared reality we face and the better set of choices we need to make as a people to meet those challenges and to create a better future for our kids.”

For the latter half of this week, Mr. O’Malley plans to tour the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, the Western Wall and the Old City, and attend Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem with his 15-year-old son, one of four O’Malley children who attend Catholic schools, as their father did.

A reporter pointed out that on his way into Bethlehem, he would see the controversial separation barrier Israel has erected in the West Bank. Mr. O’Malley said he had seen something similar in Northern Ireland. “They call it the peace wall,” he noted.