Kathy Hochul

Deep Dive

Hochul is New York's governor and the Democratic nominee for a second full term. She casts no vote on U.S. weapons or foreign aid, so her record here is what she has said and what she has done with the one state instrument she holds.

In July 2025 she called on the government of Israel to work with the United States and the international community to ensure sustained humanitarian aid reached civilians in Gaza. She called the reports of starving children "simply unconscionable" and said "as a mother, my heart is broken by these images of famine." She put the demand inside her own support rather than against it: "But support for the people of Israel also requires us to demand that the Israeli government do what is right." The same statement pressed Hamas to release all hostages.

She has also spoken to the federal question once in her own words. In February 2024, addressing the POLITICO Governors Summit in Washington while Congress was divided over an aid package for Israel and Ukraine, she said lawmakers were failing both allies: "It is a dereliction of duty that they refuse to give support to Ukraine on the two-year anniversary of them trying to hold the line against a dictator from moving into Ukraine and beyond, and the fact they refuse to do their job and provide support for Israel as we have since the birth of that nation in 1948". POLITICO reported that she also urged her fellow Democrats "to be strong" on Israel and to support President Biden's handling of the war. Nothing located has her calling for conditions on U.S. weapons for the government of Israel.

She has had to correct herself once on this subject. Speaking to a Jewish charity's audience in February 2024 she reached for an analogy: "If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I'm sorry my friends, there would be no Canada the next day." The next day she apologized for the analogy and restated what she says her position is: "While I have been clear in my support of Israel's right to self-defense, I have also repeatedly said and continue to believe that Palestinian civilian casualties should be avoided and that more humanitarian aid must go to the people of Gaza."

The state instrument is an executive order directing state entities to pull public money out of companies and institutions that boycott Israel. She extended it on taking office in 2021, and in 2022 her administration pressed Unilever over a planned boycott of Ben and Jerry's sales, which ended with the company agreeing that sales would continue; the page carrying her statement on that no longer opens to a reader, so it is named here rather than linked and the address is written out on her research page. In January 2025, after the faculty union of the City University of New York voted narrowly to boycott Israeli entities, she said the order stands and that she opposed the vote: "I strongly oppose the resolution narrowly passed by the PSC-CUNY delegates and will continue standing up against antisemitism and hate in all forms."

The record

• October 16-17, 2023: Convened and led a bipartisan coalition of 17 governors that sent a joint letter to congressional leaders commending 'increased military assistance to Israel' and urging 'immediate and continued U.S. aid to Israel' after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

• October 18-20, 2023: Led a New York State solidarity mission to Israel, meeting President Herzog and Prime Minister Netanyahu, touring the Kfar Aza kibbutz, and reaffirming 'New York State's solidarity with Israel.'

• June 2022: Hochul's administration investigated Unilever/Ben & Jerry's over a planned sales boycott, set a July 6 deadline, and announced an agreement to continue Ben & Jerry's sales throughout Israel and the West Bank, citing her extension of the state's anti-boycott executive order.

• January 2025: Condemned the CUNY Professional Staff Congress faculty union's resolution to boycott Israeli entities, reiterating that her anti-boycott divestment executive order remains in effect.

In their words

Research log

The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.

U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel

• [Position, 2024-02-22] At the POLITICO Governors Summit in Washington, as POLITICO reported (Nick Reisman; syndicated on Yahoo News): "Congress is failing Israel by not passing an aid package to support its ongoing war against Hamas, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Thursday." Her words: "It is a dereliction of duty that they refuse to give support to Ukraine on the two-year anniversary of them trying to hold the line against a dictator from moving into Ukraine and beyond, and the fact they refuse to do their job and provide support for Israel as we have since the birth of that nation in 1948". The report adds that she urged her fellow Democrats "to be strong" on Israel and to support President Joe Biden's handling of the war. This is the one statement located, after the war's first months, in which she speaks to U.S. aid for the government of Israel itself, and it backs passing the aid.
• [Position, 2025-07-31] Her statement on the humanitarian crisis asks the United States to press rather than to withhold: "The arrival of US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Israel today must serve as a turning point for the crisis in Gaza," and "The reports that continue to emerge are harrowing, and I am calling for Israel to work with the United States and the international community to immediately ensure sustained humanitarian aid can reach civilians."
• [Reaction window, 2023-10-17] She convened and signed a letter from seventeen governors to congressional leaders. In the letter's words: "We commend President Biden for his swift response in providing increased military assistance to Israel, and members of Congress from both parties for their firm statements of support for Israel. We urge immediate and continued U.S. aid to Israel in the weeks and months to come." It is a collective letter, so its wording is seventeen governors' and not hers alone. Her office's release announcing it quotes her: "As the Governor of the largest Jewish population outside Israel, I recognize we have a unique and solemn responsibility to support Israel during this critical moment. I'm proud to stand with my fellow Governors to show our support for Israel, and grateful to my colleagues for their bold moral leadership." (her office's release on the letter). Not on the card summary: dated inside the reaction window, in every form. Her office's page refuses a plain request; the words were checked on 2026-09-25 against an archived copy of the release from January 2025.
• [Position, 2026-07-24] A search of her own press archive found no statement in which she called for conditioning, restricting or cutting U.S. weapons or funding for the government of Israel. The index it was run against, https://www.governor.ny.gov/keywords/israel , also refuses to open to us, so we could not repeat it. A fresh search of the open record in August 2026 found none either. Nothing located has her calling for conditions; the one federal-aid statement located, above, backs passing the aid.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

• [Position, 2025-07-31] The July 2025 statement above is her clearest position on aid reaching Gaza: she asked the government of Israel to work with the United States and international partners to ensure sustained access, called the reported suffering of children "simply unconscionable", and closed "This humanitarian crisis has gone on for too long, and it is time to secure a lasting peace that protects the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians."
• [Position, 2024-02-16] In the apology statement she said she has "also repeatedly said and continue to believe that Palestinian civilian casualties should be avoided and that more humanitarian aid must go to the people of Gaza" (Times of Israel; City and State New York carries the same statement in reported form).
• [Position, 2024-03-15] A statement supporting the negotiations for a six-week ceasefire, which she said would return hostages and bring relief to civilians in Gaza. Her own page carrying it, https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-kathy-hochul-biden-administrations-negotiations-israel-and-hamas , refuses to open to us, so the item is recorded here with plain attribution and nothing from it is quoted.
• [Position, 2025-10-13] A statement welcoming the ceasefire and the release of hostages and expressing hope that aid would reach families in Gaza. Its address, https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-kathy-hochul-114 , also refuses to open, so again nothing from it is quoted.
• [Reaction window, 2023-10-19] Remarks in Jerusalem during a state mission, from her office's rush transcript: "These are my messages: solidarity, deep concern for the people of Israel, particularly in the aftermath, bring home the hostages, as well as get that humanitarian aid flowing. People need it." (her office's Jerusalem transcript). Not on the card summary. Her office's page refuses a plain request; the words were checked on 2026-09-25 against an archived copy of the transcript from February 2025.
• Nothing located in which she takes a position on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees or on the American funding line in its own right.

Characterization of the conflict

• [Position, 2024-02-15] At an address to the United Jewish Appeal Federation she said: "If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I'm sorry my friends, there would be no Canada the next day," and "That's a natural reaction. You have a right to defend yourself and to make sure it never happens again." As quoted by City and State New York, which reports that the remarks were first reported by The Forward.
• [Position, 2024-02-16] The apology the following day, per the Times of Israel: she regretted an "inappropriate analogy" and apologized for a "poor choice of words", and restated the position quoted above.
• [Position, 2025-07-31] "But support for the people of Israel also requires us to demand that the Israeli government do what is right," from the statement above.
• [Reaction window, 2023-10-08] Condemned a rally planned in Times Square. [Reaction window, 2023-10-12] Urged, at a news conference, that Palestinians and Hamas not be treated as the same thing. [Reaction window, 2023-10-18] Said in Israel that it must be able to defend itself against terrorism, while calling for humanitarian routes into Gaza. All three are dated in the weeks after October 7, 2023, so they are listed here but not used for the card; sources include City and State New York and the Associated Press.

State action

• [Prior, 2021-10] On taking office she extended Executive Order 157, issued in 2016, which directs state entities to divest public funds from companies and institutions that boycott Israel. The order is the instrument every item below runs through.
• [Prior, 2022-06-29] Her administration investigated Unilever over a planned boycott of Ben and Jerry's sales in Israel and the West Bank, set a deadline, and announced an agreement that sales would continue. Her statement on it is at https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-kathy-hochul-unilever-agreement-israel , which does not open to us, so the episode is carried attributively and nothing in it is quoted.
• [Position, 2024-02-27] Her office and the State University of New York threatened legal action against a group using the university's name to promote divestment. Her representative's statement, reported by the Jewish News Syndicate, reads: "To be clear, both Governor Hochul and the SUNY System do not endorse this group or their mission." The words are her representative's, not hers, and are not attributed to her personally.
• [Position, 2025-01-29] Statement to The Times of Israel on the City University of New York faculty union's vote. Two spans, which the report separates with its own attribution and which are therefore kept apart here. First: "In my first week as governor, I signed an executive order to divest public funds from institutions that participate in the harmful BDS movement — and that order remains in effect," Then: "I strongly oppose the resolution narrowly passed by the PSC-CUNY delegates and will continue standing up against antisemitism and hate in all forms." The union's resolution passed its delegate assembly 73 to 70 and called for divestment of the union's own funds and for a city retirement system to divest.

Related rhetoric and lobbying

• [Position, 2026-04-22] A statement marking Israel's Independence Day in which she said New York stands in solidarity with the Israeli people. Its source, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/ny-governor-vows-solidarity-with-the-israeli-people-on-independence-day/ , refuses to open to us; recorded with plain attribution, unquoted.
• No endorsement from any advocacy group this site tracks is recorded on her, and no funding from any tracked group appears on this record.

Safety and antisemitism (context)

• [Prior, 2022-03-27] Proposed making some hate-crime offenses eligible for cash bail, reported by the Forward.
• [Prior, 2023-09-19] Announced a state plan aligned with the national strategy to counter antisemitism, establishing a state center for educational civil discourse and expanding police training (summary by the Combat Antisemitism Movement; her own page on it does not open to us).
• [Reaction window, 2023-10-31] Deployed $50 million for local hate-crime prevention and $25 million in security grants, and commissioned a review of antisemitism policy across the City University of New York. Not on the card summary.
• [Position, 2026-01-13] Proposed in her State of the State address a 25-foot protest buffer zone around houses of worship.
• [Position, 2026-04-16] Pushed to double the state's security grant program for at-risk synagogues, schools and community centers, adding $35 million to reach $70 million (Times of Israel).

Race and status context

• Incumbent governor and the Democratic nominee, per Ballotpedia's race page and her Ballotpedia profile.
• She holds no federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are hers.
• Her lieutenant governor is challenging her and has said the United States should halt arms sales to the government of Israel, reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. That is her opponent's position, not hers, and it is recorded here only because a reader comparing the two will meet it.
• She endorsed Representative Dan Goldman in a contested primary in which this subject was an issue, reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
• Six addresses this record depends on are her own official pages and none of them opens to a plain request. Two, the governors' letter release and the Jerusalem transcript, are linked above with archived copies; the other four are written out above so it is visible exactly what is missing.