New York governor: My job will be ‘a lot easier’ if Netanyahu loses

New York Governor Kathy Hochul says her job will be “a lot easier” if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu loses the Knesset election.

Hochul tells the Politico news outlet in an interview that she represents the largest Jewish population outside Israel and “I know they’re suffering.”

She says she went to Israel after the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught and “saw a lot of pain there,” but also cautioned the government “not to overreach.”

“The world is with you when it comes to the brutal assault by a terrorist organization known as Hamas on innocent Israeli people. An overreach could change that dynamic, and that’s what’s happened,” she says.

“We have to have leadership there that understands the security of Israel is paramount — critically important to me, but also the world — but to have a safe Palestinian state as well,” Hochul says.

“I believe we have to get people of goodwill who can make this happen, and as long as Netanyahu is sitting there, that is not in his interest to do that. It’s just not, and it won’t happen,” she says.

Hochul, a Democrat, says she believes a Jewish person could win the party’s US presidential nomination in 2028, but that Netanyahu could complicate a Jewish candidacy.

“That’s going to be still a lightning rod,” she says. “Who knows what he’s going to do next for self-preservation.”

Hochul is a centrist who is generally supportive of Israel and is running for reelection against the Jewish Republican Bruce Blakeman.

Hochul has also allied with New York City’s anti-Zionist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, during the campaign.