In defending the Obama Administration's support for Israel, Secretary of State John Kerry said for him the issue is personal, as he considers Israel "a special country" and once "swam in the Dead Sea."
Here's an excerpt:
"This commitment to Israel’s security is actually very personal for me. On my first trip to Israel as a young senator in 1986 I was captivated by a special country, one that I immediately admired and soon grew to love. Over the years, like so many others who were drawn to this extraordinary place, I have climbed Masada, swam in the Dead Sea, driven from one biblical city to another. I’ve also seen the dark side of Hezbollah’s rockets storage facilities, just across the border in Lebanon, walked through the exhibits of the hell of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem."