Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced Thursday that he will travel to Israel this weekend, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to visit the Jewish state since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.
Christie, 61, said at a town hall in Merrimack, NH, that he will meet with Israeli government officials, Israeli Defense Forces soldiers and families of Hamas kidnapping victims during the trip.
According to CNN, the former governor of New Jersey also plans to visit the southern part of the country, near the border with Gaza.
Republican presidential candidate former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, seen here at the Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday, said he will travel to Israel this weekend. AP
“Tomorrow night I’m going to Israel because I want to see it with my own eyes,” Christie said. “Because I don’t think you can try to be president of the United States and be afraid to go see what’s happening on the ground. “If I am going to continue to be a strong advocate of doing whatever is necessary to defend Israel, I have to see it with my own eyes.”
“And if you really want to lead, you have to go and show the people of Israel that a person running for president of the United States cares enough to get on a plane, get there, and do whatever it takes to find a way to lead.” “We solved this problem,” he added.
Christie sharply criticized Israel’s intelligence community during the third GOP primary debate on Wednesday, arguing that it “failed” its citizens by being caught off guard by Hamas’ unprecedented incursion into the country, which resulted in deaths. of more than 1,400 people and saw hundreds of people. including American citizens, kidnapped and taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Smoke rises from a fire in Gaza as Israel continues its bombing and ground offensive on November 8, 2023. Getty Images A general view of the destruction after the deadly attack on a police station in the city of Sderot on November 8 2023. .ZUMAPRESS.com
“The fact is that Israel and its intelligence community failed,” Christie said during the debate in Miami. “They failed here and they failed the people of the State of Israel.”
Christie is no stranger to war zones.
In August, the Republican candidate made an unannounced visit to Ukraine, meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky and laying flowers at a mass grave in Bucha, where Ukraine claims Russian soldiers committed atrocities against civilians.
Christie is fifth among Republican White House hopefuls at 2.6%, according to a RealClearPolitics average of national polls, more than 55 percentage points behind former President Donald Trump.
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