Kathy Hochul planned Thanksgiving in Israel. Then came Cuomo’s resignation
Becoming the 57th governor of New York earlier this summer came with a personal price for Kathy Hochul: she had to cancel a planned first-time trip with her family to Israel for the Thanksgiving weekend, the governor revealed on Monday.
“I have a few responsibilities now,” Hochul said in brief remarks at the American Friends of Rabin Medical Center annual gala at The Plaza hotel in Manhattan.
Hochul, 63, said she promised her disappointed husband, adult children and their spouses that they would make the trip next year after passing a state budget in April and getting through “a couple of little elections,” referring to the expected crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary next June and the general election against the presumed Jewish Republican candidate, Rep. Lee Zeldin.
“I promise I will go there, with the help of many of you, in a year from now to celebrate a relationship that I’ve treasured since my days in Congress as a staunch supporter of Israel,” she said.
Get the Forward delivered to your inbox. Sign up here to receive our essential morning briefing of American Jewish news and conversation, the afternoon’s top headlines and best reads, and a weekly letter from our editor-in-chief.
Hochul, who was lieutenant governor from 2014 until former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation in August, is considered a close friend of the New York Jewish community. She recently announced additional funds to boost security for Jewish and other religious institutions to fight a rise in antisemitic incidents.
Mara Koven-Gelman, director of the Buffalo Jewish Community Relations Council, told a local Jewish publication that Hochul told her in 2019 “would love to go” to Israel. But the coronavirus pandemic halted such a plan.
Cuomo visited Israel three times as governor.
“As governor of New York, I will continue to deepen our relationship with Israel in any way I can,” Hochul said on Monday. “And I will always continue to make sure Israel knows that New York is a true friend and ally, forever.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO