It was Senator McCain’s first trip here, but throughout, including during this press conference, McCain insisted this was not a campaign stop. The situation is the unremitting violence between Israel and militants in Gaza but this trip looked otherwise Presidential. McCain visited with almost all of Israel’s top officials, including a VIP tour of Sderot. McCain noted that the rockets from Gaza are unacceptable and reiterated Israel’s right to retaliate, but also encouraged the peace process to move forward. One thing McCain did not do on this visit is meet with Palestinian officials, he did make a phone call to Abbas however. Some Israelis were unimpressed too.