Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and a bipartisan delegation of his colleagues were rushed to a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sunday after rockets were launched by Hamas.
Schumer and the group, which includes Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV), were set to deliver a press conference when air-raid sirens went off as incoming rockets targeted the city. The lawmakers were sent to a shelter to wait out the attack, delaying the press conference for a few minutes.
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“While in Tel Aviv today, our delegation was rushed to a shelter to wait out rockets sent by Hamas,” Schumer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It shows you what Israelis have to go through. We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself.”
While in Tel Aviv today, our delegation was rushed to a shelter to wait out rockets sent by Hamas. It shows you what Israelis have to go through. We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself. pic.twitter.com/wS3kq6xFVJ
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) October 15, 2023
Schumer made note of the experience once the briefing began, telling reporters that the delegation “experienced what Israelis experience almost every day. We were having lunch up in the hotel, and the sirens went off. We heard them, and we were all rushed into a shelter and had to stay there until the coast was clear. And then a few minutes ago, this press conference was delayed for the same reason.”
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At least 3,600 people and 29 Americans have died since the conflict erupted on Oct. 7. Schumer said he felt “a passion and an obligation” to make the trip after the events, which he said left him disturbed.
The United States also sent Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Tel Aviv this past week and announced plans to send two aircraft carrier strike groups to the region. The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group arrived in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday, while the USS Eisenhower carrier strike group was deployed to the area on Saturday.
