Rahm Emanuel Celebrates Daughter's Bat Mitzvah, Attends Presidential Conference in Israel - East Idaho News
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Rahm Emanuel Celebrates Daughter’s Bat Mitzvah, Attends Presidential Conference in Israel

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Getty 033012 RahmEmmanuel?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1371607829129Scott Olson/Getty Images(JERUSALEM) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is celebrating two important birthdays this week.

Last Friday, the mayor and his youngest daughter, Leah, embarked on a week-long commemorative trip to Israel to celebrate her bat mitzvah.

Going on a trip with each of his children is “a family tradition,”  Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the mayor, told ABC News.

Unlike Emanuel’s past commemorative trips with son Zach and daughter Ilana, this year the family tradition coincides with another celebration – the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem.

This week, Emanuel will join a bevy of political heavyweights to discuss global leadership and to celebrate the 90th birthday of Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Other attendees include former President Clinton, former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Obama adviser David Axelrod. President Obama is also scheduled to make an appearance via video stream.

According to Hamilton, on Wednesday Emanuel joins Blair, Gorbachev and Peres in a panel discussion about executive leadership. The conference agenda describes the event as a look into each leader’s experience navigating a “demanding arena that is full of dangers [and] political difficulties.”

The conference kicks off Tuesday night with an invitation-only reception in honor of Peres’ birthday, and will include appearances by Barbra Streisand, Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro.

Hamilton couldn’t say whether Leah Emanuel would be attending the reception with her father.

“He doesn’t talk about his kids publicly,” she said. “The trip is for them to learn more about their family’s history.”

The mayor is set to return to Chicago on June 23.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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