Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Rudy Giuliani Says He Drew Inspiration From Israel After 9/11

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani praised Israel’s resilience in the face of terrorism, saying it left him inspired in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

“I came to Israel thinking I would lift morale, but I came back uplifted,” he said Sunday at a meeting of the World Jewish Congress and the Israel Council on Foreign Relations in Jerusalem.

Giuliani said the U.S. and the Jewish state’s struggle against terrorism is one and the same.

Israel is “fighting our battle on the front lines against Islamic terrorism,” Giuliani told the audience, which reported included Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and Israeli government representatives. “It is almost unpatriotic not to love Israel.”

Giuliani was hailed as “America’s Mayor” for his leadership following the September 11 attacks. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 but later withdrew from the race, endorsing nominee John McCain.

During his visit Giuliani also reiterated his close ties to Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, calling himself a “friend and informal advisor” to the real estate mogul.

“Trump has very strong views. I agree with most of them, not all of them. But he is a very good man. He has been an enormously successful businessman,” Giuliani told the daily Israel Hayom.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.