Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced on Thursday his plan to visit Israel this weekend, making him the first Republican presidential candidate to do so since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last month.
Mr. Christie, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, said at a town hall in New Hampshire that he would be traveling to Israel to “see it for myself” the situation following Hamas’s attack.
The Republican politician said he plans to meet with Israeli officials and families of people abducted by Hamas terrorists during his visit to the Jewish state.
“If you really want to lead, you need to go over and show the people of Israel that one person running for president of the United States cares enough to get on an airplane and get over there and do what needs to be done to find out how we fix this problem,” he added.
During the Republican presidential debate in Miami on Nov. 8, Mr. Christie criticized Israeli intelligence services for “failing” to prevent Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that killed over 1,400 people. Hamas also took more than 200 hostages.
“The fact is, Israel and their intelligence community failed. They failed here, and they failed the people of the state of Israel,” Mr. Christie said.
“These problems are so big and serious,” he added. “The first thing I would say to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] is pretty simple. America is here, no matter what it is you need at any time, to preserve the state of Israel. Remember, Hamas’s main goal is to get rid of the state of Israel.”
Mr. Christie was an adviser to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 White House campaign but has since become a vocal critic of the former president.
The former governor ran for president in 2016 but ended his bid after a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary and became the first major figure in the party to back President Trump.
Reuters contributed to this report.
