RACE FOR CONGRESS IN THE 4TH CD

Rice promises to advocate for Israel and criticize Obama when necessary

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At the top of her interview with The Jewish Star, Kathleen Rice, the Democratic candidate in the 4th CD, was asked about her visit to Israel during the latest Gaza war. She visited Israel once before, during her college days. 

had said that one of the first things I was going to do if I won the primary was go to Israel, and that’s what I did. We were there on the 20th of July — and actually got stranded there because that’s when the FAA [barred flights to Israel], I have no idea why they felt the need — with Rabbi [Hershel] Billet [of the Young Israel of Woodmere] and had a pretty intense two days on the ground. We were in Tel Aviv, we went to a hospital that has a program called Save a Child’s Heart; we met with the mayor of Jerusalem, some members of the Knesset; members of the IDF who were giving us a security briefing; we met with families in Israel who moved from Nassau County from this congressional district; we went to see Rabbi Billet’s daughter and all of her neighbors in a settlement there.

 

When we were at the rabbi’s daughter’s house, we talked to his little grandson and asked how long does it take you to get to the safe room in the house — the kid’s 6 years old — and I thought to myself, there’s such a lack of understanding generally among Americans on the day-to-day lives that Israelis have to live and know where the nearest bomb shelter is, and you have to have a safe room in your house…

Rabbi Billet and I spoke about how damaging it is, what the FAA did to the economy. … I never felt any danger.

The reason why I felt it important to go was that there is a very large pro-Israel Jewish community in this Congressional district, and they care about Israel, obviously, and they want to know how their elected officials are going to support Israel. Are you going to be a support, or a vocal supporter; are you going to go along with whatever your party says and not be vocal in dissent if you do dissent.

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