NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Wednesday announced that he’s hopping over to Israel for a one-day visit, designed as his response to acts of anti-Semitism at Jewish cemeteries, college campuses and community centers across the US. The governor stressed that he won’t have time to meet with Arab leaders.
This would Cuomo’s second journey to Israel as governor, out of three trips abroad altogether.
Cuomo announced the trip during a speech to Orthodox Jewish students, parents and teachers who came to Albany to show their support for increased funding for religious schools.
A Catholic high school graduate, Cuomo told the visitors that religious schools are necessary for a successful educational system. NY State’s education budget includes $181 million for nonpublic schools. Last week, the governor proposed an increase of $25 million for security at religious schools, in response to the rise in hate crimes.
The governor said the trip is intended to encourage business relations between the Empire State and the Jewish State, most notably in hi-tech, as well as to “bring a message of solidarity” while the US is plagued by anti-Semitic incidents.
“The Jewish community is an integral part of New York, we have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel,” the governor said. “We’re proud of it, and New York wouldn’t be New York without the Jewish community. It would be a different and, in my opinion frankly, not as great a state.”
New York City has the largest Jewish population of any city outside Israel.
“I want to say to the people of Israel and I want to say to the Jewish community, ‘In New York, you are not alone, and every person in the state of New York with any decency and understanding of what it means to be a New Yorker stands with you at this moment,'” Cuomo said.