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

Image by Getty Images

By Josefin Dolsten March 15, 2016

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.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

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