I was in Israel when the horrific attacks carried out by Hamas started on Saturday. My team and I are now safe, but like many we are shaken, angered, and heartbroken by the hundreds killed, the thousands injured, those taken hostage, and all who are directly affected by these… pic.twitter.com/E4BgEZxSTC
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) October 8, 2023
Booker was one of at least two American lawmakers who were in Israel on Saturday when Hamas launched a surprise and deadly attack.
“We who believe in peace and freedom and human rights, for Palestinians, Israelis and all humankind, must reject those who use terror as their weapon,” Booker said in the video, adding that the scale of the attack by Hamas was greater than anything Israel had seen in 50 years.
He had arrived in Israel on Friday, ahead of a meeting at which he was scheduled to speak, according to spokesman Maya Krishna-Rogers. In a statement, she described the meeting in Tel Aviv as “an Abraham Accords-focused” economics summit. Booker, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was joined in Jerusalem by “accompanying staff,” according to Krishna-Rogers. The senator and staff members left Israel on Sunday, she said.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said he was asleep in a Tel Aviv hotel with his family when the sound of a warning siren jolted them awake. He was in Israel visiting members of his family, his spokesman, Madison Andrus, told The Washington Post.
“It was a shock,” Goldman told a New York TV station Monday morning. “Woken up, three little kids, my wife, and we had 90 seconds to get to the interior stairwell of the hotel” for safety. They stayed there for several frightening minutes as the attack continued. He added that the experience left his family deeply shaken. “My kids are still feeling the effects of it, but it is nothing in comparison to so many in the south” of Israel.
Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah said Monday that a deputy chief investigator in her office who was in Israel when the violence broke out had safely returned home.
Rocah did not identify the person by name but said they were “one of six law enforcement leaders from Westchester County among a 32-member New York delegation” that traveled to Israel on Thursday for “an international counterterrorism and antisemitism training.”
Their return to the United States followed the delegation “sheltering in a safe location” close to the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Rocah previously announced as the fighting began.
A message for Rocah was not immediately returned.
UPDATE: Our Deputy Chief Investigator arrived in New York this morning and is back home with his family. We are very thankful to everyone, especially those in Israel, who ensured the safe return of every one of our law enforcement colleagues. https://t.co/fPELPlKbMf
— DA Mimi Rocah (@WestchesterDA) October 9, 2023
This is not the first time U.S. officials traveling in Israel witnessed abrupt and unexpected violence. In 2007, a rocket blast hit near Sderot, Israel, not far from where members of the New York City Council were visiting with an Israeli official.
