‘It Was Just Unbelievable’: Governor Stitt On Visit To Israel

Governor Kevin Stitt traveled to Israel last week, and says he is determined now to stand with Israel and “support their right to defend themself.” Stitt called this visit “eye-opening.”

“It was terrible and it was absolutely evil what was done to the civilians in Israel,” said Governor Stitt. “When I went over there, I was like man this is not normal you can't live in peace and have rockets being launched in. I think the world forgets about that, or at least I did.”

Stitt went on the privately-funded trip to Israel last Wednesday alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The two met with Israeli leaders and visited victims of the Hamas attacks at a Tel Aviv hospital.

“I met a girl that was shot in the leg and hid under dead bodies,” said Stitt. “What happened on October 7th… the only way you can describe it is similar to the Holocaust.”

Israeli officials say 1,400 people were killed in the Hamas attack and 240 are still held hostage.

“They went into gated neighborhoods -like we would think in South Tulsa or Durant- went into gated neighborhoods while people were getting their kids ready for school and it was just unbelievable,” said Stitt.

More than 9,000 rockets have been fired at Israel in less than a month. Stitt says sadly, the violence has become part of the norm for many of the people he spoke with.

“Think about in Oklahoma if we woke up everyday thinking there were going to be 100 rockets launched from Texas and Missouri and Arkansas,” said Stitt.

Stitt says he is working with the Republican Governors Association and the Biden Administration to share what he witnessed, saying we should look at sending more of the country’s defense budget to help fight Hamas.

“If these terrorists don't get stopped now it's going to go into Europe and come into the U.S.,” said Stitt. “The safety of Americans and the safety of the world, because the security around the world really affects us here at home as well.”

The trip was coordinated in part by the Israeli Consulate in Houston and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Stitt says the idea to go to Israel started with a conversation between a handful of republican governors, but says only he and Abbott were able to make the visit.

Governor Stitt was the first sitting Oklahoma governor to visit Israel since Brad Henry in 2003.