Chris Christie, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, told Newsmax on Thursday that he visited Israel to demonstrate United States support for the country.
Joining "Eric Bolling The Balance," the former New Jersey governor, who visited the Jewish state in 2012, said he also traveled to understand the scope of Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
Israeli officials estimate that around 1,200 individuals were killed in the massacre, including hundreds of civilians. Another 7,266 were wounded, 239 were captured or abducted, and 28 are missing.
"I want to feel the emotion of what's going on there. I want to look these people in the eye and let them know that the United States cares about what's going on in their country, and we understand that there's a plight they're going through," Christie recalled on why he went.
However, Christie explained, nothing prepared him for what he saw after last week.
"What I saw, Eric, was just absolutely sickening," Christie told host Eric Bolling. "The attack on Oct. 7 was not only brutal and inhumane, but what I saw was the joy these terrorists displayed envisioning this inhumanity on these innocent civilians."
He specifically recalled visiting the Be'eri kibbutz, where one of the most brutal scenes of Hamas violence took place. At least 130 people are believed to have been killed there, including women and infants.
"That was a beautiful place that housed hundreds of people and is now completely decimated," Christie said, recalling a house he visited where a newly-married 24-year-old couple was killed.
"That kibbutz ... was 600 yards away from the Gaza border. You cannot ask for people to go back to that place until you can assure them that you've rooted out the military capability of Hamas," he added.
Christie, earlier in his 2024 campaign, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, in a show of support for the country's war effort against Russia.
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Luca Cacciatore ✉
Luca Cacciatore, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is based in Arlington, Virginia, reporting on news and politics.
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