New York Governor Kathy Hochul flies in for solidarity visit
Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of the State of New York, landed in Israel Wednesday evening to show solidarity with Israel amid the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
She arrived after the sameday visit by US President Joe Biden, who met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and announced new measures for humanitarian aid in Gaza while renewing his expressions of support for Israel’s defense, and reiterating his warnings against Iran or its proxies not to enter the war on other fronts.
Michael Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, met Hochul in Tel Aviv and thanked her for showing “solidarity to Israel during these trying times.”
On her first evening in Israel, Hochul, who as governor represents more than two million Jews, met with displaced residents of the southern community of Kfar Aza, which was decimated during Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7, and with families of those whom the terrorist group has taken hostage in Gaza.
“Our Number 1 priority,” the governor told volunteers at a Leket Israel food bank, “is to make sure we can get those people home who have been taken hostage. That has to be the unifying voice of all civilized nations.”
Hochul connected Israel’s experience following Hamas’s attack to that of New Yorkers after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. “We share that experience with you,” she said, “we stand in solidarity with Israel.
“We defend your right to defend yourself, as we all have
a global fight against terrorism, wherever it rears its ugly head.”
The connection to 9/11 was also drawn explicitly during Hochul’s visit to the Western Wall on Thursday morning. “No one understands the wickedness, the hatred and the evil of these human animals like the residents of New York,” said Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites Shmuel Rabinowitz told Hochul, echoing language by Israel’s defense minister in the aftermath of the attack.
“New York residents’ identification with our experience encourages us and demonstrates the understanding of the world in the face of the barbaric act of our enemies,” Rabinowitz added. On behalf of the people of Israel, I want to thank you and the residents of New York for the support.”
The governor arrived in Israel in the midst of fury over the explosion at a hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, which Israel has shown was caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group. Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry claimed that an Israeli air strike had destroyed the hospital, killing 500, a sample of Hamas disinformation that was incorrectly shared by mainstream news outlets such as The New York Times, Reuters, and the Associated Press. Following these reports, protests erupted across the region, and Jordan’s King Abdullah, citing the supposed attack, canceled a planned mini-summit meeting in Amman with Biden and other Arab leaders. Instead, the president returned to the United States immediately after his brief solidarity visit to Israel.