“As sirens sounded in Tel Aviv just now and residents scrambled for shelter, many New Yorkers were immediately transported back to the worst days of first Gulf War, when the fear of missiles landing in Israel’s largest city turned into reality. I was in Israel in January of 2009 and witnessed first-hand the terror of incoming rockets in Sderot, which the local residents continue to endure with varying degrees of intensity. By the latest count, approximately 275 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel just since yesterday, and that number keeps rising. Israel – like any nation – has every right to defend itself. As our U.S. State Department said yesterday, there is no justification whatsoever for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are employing against the people of Israel. And as Ambassador Michael Oren has said to me in our private meetings and to the world yesterday, Israel has both the right and duty to defend itself from terrorist attacks designed to kill thousands of its citizens.”