Chris Christie said Sunday he wanted to “capture the atrocity” with “his own eyes” as the former New Jersey governor became the first Republican 2024 candidate to visit Israel since the bloody Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas.
“I came here to see with my own eyes what happened on October 7 and there are few words that can capture the brutality – dozens of men, women, and children killed in their homes by Hamas,” he reflected X .
“It is one thing to talk about these atrocities from the comfort of thousands of miles away. Another to see them live. To hear the people on the ground, and to see the destruction and despair.”
During his trip, Christie visited a kibbutz that had been targeted by Hamas terrorists during the surprise attack, met with survivors, and spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
At one point, he was shown about 40 minutes of footage, highlighting the brutality of Hamas. Christie did not say whether it was the same footage that had been shown to lawmakers in Washington, DC.
Today, I visited Kfar Aza Kibbutz in the envelope of Gaza with the Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana.
I came here to see with my own eyes what happened on October 7 and there are few words that can capture the brutality – dozens of men, women and children were killed in… pic.twitter.com/czin0A8s3U
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) November 12, 2023
“It’s not just the inhumanity that they do — beheading, burning people alive — but it’s the joy they feel,” Christie said on CNN.
He narrates a clip in which a terrorist calls his mother bragging that “your son killed ten Jews with his own hands, your son is a hero.”
Another heartbreaking anecdote Christie recalls is meeting a 23-year-old woman who was shot in a bomb shelter.
Chris Christie has shown himself to be a staunch supporter of Israel amid its war against Hamas.AP One of the homes Chris Christie saw on Sunday was riddled with bullet holes. Getty Images Chris Christie visited Kibbutz Kfar Azza, near the Israel-Gaza Border on Sunday. AP
“[She] survived only because he was covered with other bodies,” he told CNN.
Christie insisted that as long as there are “people like that in Hamas, who are focused on wiping Israel off the map and killing Jews,” plans for the Gaza Strip after the war will have to “back off.”
But he splits with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who has opposed letting the Palestinian Authority rule the Gaza Strip when the war ends.
“I think it’s too early to make that determination,” said Christie. “I understand that the Prime Minister is now exclusively focused on the war … but look, I don’t see a long line of people who want to volunteer to take over Gaza from Hamas.”
State Antony Blinken met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on November 3. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Netanyahu has voiced concern that the Palestinian Authority is not committed to deradicalization and demilitarization.
Christie stated that he plans to return to the US and speak about the war in Israel “regularly.”
“To be able to walk through a neighborhood like this and see what’s being done to people, to still be able to walk into one of these houses and still smell death, a month later, is something I think Americans need. to know,” he said.
Israel recently revised its casualty estimate from 1,400 to 1,200 since the deadly Hamas attack.
David and Varda Goldstein react when they visit the kibbutz for the first time. They lost their son and and family members were taken hostage. Getty Images
Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, considered a questionable source, has claimed that at least 11,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war broke out.
Back in August, Christie made a surprise visit to war-torn Ukraine, where he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He claimed that he was invited by the Israeli foreign ministry to visit the massacre.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
