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 same-day 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 and others connect October 7 attacks to 9/11
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.”
Governor urged caution upon news of hospital explosion
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.
Hochul, wrote on X (previously known as Twitter) that “New York mourns the innocent lives due to the explosion at al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. We await further information from the White House on the explosion’s cause but continue to call for civilians to be protected & humanitarian aid for all impacted by this conflict.”
New York mourns the innocent lives lost due to the explosion at Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza.We await further information from the White House on the explosion's cause but continue to call for civilians to be protected & humanitarian aid for all impacted by this conflict.
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) October 18, 2023
Other American officials shared, uncritically, articles citing Hamas’s original claim about the explosion. “Israel just bombed the Baptist hospital,” wrote Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib on X, “killing 500.” As of Thursday morning Israel time, the congresswoman had not retracted this claim. Other congresspeople, such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, the only other Muslim woman in Congress and a frequent critic of Israel, initially shared claims of an IDF airstrike, but later clarified that American intelligence had come to a different conclusion.
Visit comes amid controversial events in New York
Though the war with Hamas is taking place more than six thousand miles from Hochul’s constituency, her visit follows controversial events within the state itself following the Gaza-based terrorist organization's attack and Israel’s response to it.
At a "pro-Palestinian" rally in New York the day after the attack, demonstrators celebrated the kidnapping of Israeli civilians. Meanwhile, several thousand people turned out for a rally in solidarity with the Jewish state. Amidst similar dueling protests, New York City’s Columbia University closed its campus to those not affiliated with the school for the first time in the university’s history.
A speech by New York City Mayor Eric Adams in support of Israel was widely shared on social media; he was also criticized in local media following a Zoom call with Palestinian-American leaders in the city.