New York Governor Kathy Hochul apologized Friday for feedback she made suggesting that Israel is justified in destroying Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ October 7 assault.
“If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I’m sorry, my friends, there would be no Canada the next day,” Hochul mentioned in remarks that circulated broadly on social media. “That is a natural reaction. You have a right to defend yourself and to make sure that it never happens again. And that is Israel’s right.”
The governor regretted her “poor choice of words” and the “inappropriate analogy” in a press release to the New York Times.
“While I have been clear in my support of Israel’s right to self-defense,” Hochul added, “I have also repeatedly said and continue to believe that Palestinian civilian casualties should be avoided and that more humanitarian aid must go to the people of Gaza.”
Since Hamas’ assault, which resulted within the loss of life of 1,200 Israelis, most of whom had been civilians, Israeli’s retaliatory assault has killed over 28,000 Palestinians in Gaza and generated a spiraling humanitarian disaster.
Hochul’s remark got here at a Thursday occasion hosted by the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York, a nonprofit and chapter of the Jewish Federations of North America. The group steadily sends American politicians to Israel and not too long ago sponsored a visit for New York City Mayor Eric Adams in August.
The nonprofit reportedly supplied to pay for Hochul’s two-day “solidarity trip” to Israel in mid-October, which coincided with President Joe Biden’s first journey to the nation following the Hamas assault. But Hochul’s workplace, citing a delay in an ethics overview of the funding, mentioned later that New York taxpayers would as an alternative foot the $12,000 invoice.
“We know about being attacked by terrorist organizations here in New York City,” Hochul mentioned after the journey. “I felt this overwhelming need to go there and say, you know, on behalf of New Yorkers — particularly the very large Jewish community we have in New York — that I wanted to go there to show our support, meet with people who have endured the unspeakable.”
Hochul’s feedback come because the battle continues to rage in Gaza, with Israel gearing up for a possible floor invasion of Rafah, a metropolis close to the Egyptian border that at present homes 1.4 million displaced Palestinians who’ve fled from different components of the territory.
Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, wrote final week that Israeli army operations in Rafah “could lead to a slaughter in Gaza. They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door.”