New York Governor Kathy Hochul apologized for remarks she made at a Jewish philanthropy event in New York City that went viral on social media and which suggested Israel had justification to destroy Gaza following the October 7 Hamas terror attack.
“If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I’m sorry, my friends, there would be no Canada the next day,” Hochul said in a portion of her speech on Thursday at an event for the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York. “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.”
On October 7, Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel. Thousands of terrorists burst through the border with the Gaza Strip and rampaged murderously through southern Israel, slaughtering those they found, and perpetrating wholesale atrocities, including multiple gang rape, torture and mutilation. The killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 253 hostages.
Israel responded to the attack with a military campaign to destroy Hamas, remove it from power in Gaza and release the hostages.
On Friday, in a statement cited by The New York Times, Hochul said she regrets her “inappropriate analogy” and apologized for her “poor choice of words.”
“While I have been clear in my support of Israel’s right to self-defense, 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,” she said in the statement.
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