Michael Bloomberg paid a solidarity visit to one of the Israeli cities under constant fire from Hamas missiles.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is paying a lighting visit to Israel today to show support for the country. He is accompanied by New York City police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Congressman Gary Ackerman of Queens, who chairs the US House subcommittee on the Middle East. The New York visitors traveled to Ashkelon to show solidarity with the residents of the southern city who for years have been the target of missiles launched by Hamas from Gaza.
Ashkelon Mayor Benni Vaaknin, who met the visitors, said, "Your visit strengthens us very much." The New York delegation visited Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon and met with civilians who have been injured over the past week from rocket fire. Bloomberg expressed his admiration for the city's residents and spoke of his own identification with them as the mayor of a city which has suffered the 9/11 terrorist attack. Bloomberg said, "If I were an Israeli, I would do everything possible to defend civilians who have the right to expect at the very least the protection of the State."
Bloomberg stressed that Israel had made every effort to prevent fighting and cited the Israeli disengagement from Gaza. He quoted US president elect Barack Obama, and said that if his children were scared in the way that children in Israel live in fear every day, he would do everything in his power to stop acts of terror.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 4, 2009
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