A few weeks ago Loretta Siemen invited me out to a luncheon for the bipartisan nonprofit Iowans Supporting Israel, at which Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Pleasant Hill Mayor Sara Kurovski eloquently shared their takeaways from two separate trips to Israel. In April, Reynolds went on an eight-day economic development trip to Israel with the Republican Lieutenant Governors Association. Her goal was to foster new partnerships with the Israeli government, military and business leaders. Kurovski was invited to participate in a 12-day trip that began in Washington, D.C., with the American Council of Young Political Leaders, a nonpartisan group that works to create opportunities for next-generation political leaders to meet one another and gain a better understanding of the world. Before Kurovski spoke, I had a chance to ask her a bit about her trip, which also included time in the Palestinian Territories. Frankly, the Israel-Palestine-Iowa connection and challenge isn’t one I know very intimately. So it was interesting to get a firsthand account from Kurovski — she was at the Knesset on the opening day of the summer legislative session when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to ensure enough votes to remain in power — and to learn a bit more about the bipartisan effort that led to the creation of Iowans Supporting Israel in 2012. The group was formed by the late Ed Skinner, former Iowa Democratic legislator Matt Strawn, former chair of the state’s Republican party Bud Hockenberg and Strategic America’s Mike Schreurs. Geri Huser — Skinner’s daughter — now sits on the board, and Loretta Sieman chairs the advisory council that’s full of prominent business leaders. At any rate, ask them about their trips — you’ll learn a bit. One fun aside, which I thought reflected how the rest of the world might view news in the United States. Kurovski joked that she was in Israel during the transgender bathroom debate that was going on in the United States. A common question she had to keep fielding from the Israelis? Why we were so infatuated with toilets, and why all our elected officials were debating bathrooms.