GOP hopeful Chris Christie visits Israel, says the U.S. should present solidarity in conflict in opposition to Hamas
KFAR AZZA, Israel — Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie on Sunday visited Israel, expressing solidarity in Israel‘s war against Hamas and saying the U.S. must stand “shoulder to shoulder” with its close ally.
Christie toured a kibbutz that was ravaged in the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas militants that triggered the war and was meeting Israeli leaders during his one-day visit. The former New Jersey governor is the first candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination to visit Israel.
“I came here because I wanted to see this for myself,” Christie said during a tour of Kfar Azza, one of more than 20 towns and villages attacked by Hamas militants on Oct. 7. Israel says over 1,200 people were killed and 239 others are being held hostage in Gaza.
“To be able to walk through a neighborhood like this and see what was done to the people, to still be able to walk into one of these homes and smell the death still, a month later, is something that I think the American people need to know.”
Christie, the 2024 race’s most vocal critic of former president, Donald J. Trump, has solid himself as the one Republican keen to immediately take him on. Trump has not visited Israel through the present marketing campaign cycle, although President Joe Biden has.
The Republican candidates have all lined up behind Israel, even because the nation comes beneath rising worldwide stress to halt or reduce an offensive within the Gaza Strip wherein over 11,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed.
“I want the people of Israel to know that there are hundreds and millions of Americans who stand with them,” stated Christie, “who understand the atrocities that were committed, and why in the future we need to stand absolutely shoulder to shoulder with Israel.”
Christie has positioned himself as somebody who if elected would defend U.S. pursuits and democracy overseas. He has beforehand visited Ukraine to fulfill with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The journey marks his second journey to a warring nation for the reason that begin of his presidential bid, after a go to to Ukraine in August.
By far probably the most strident critic of Trump within the Republican discipline, Christie has constantly been within the low single digits in nationwide polls, far behind the previous president.
