Kathy Hochul

Hochul called on the government of Israel to work with the United States so sustained humanitarian aid reaches civilians in Gaza, and keeps in force the state order divesting public funds from institutions that boycott Israel. She has not asked Washington to condition weapons for that government.

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 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."

Research

U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel

[Position, 2025-07-31] The one place she has spoken to the American side of the ledger since the war's first months is her statement on the humanitarian crisis, and it 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." Read and confirmed word for word.
[Reaction window, 2023-10-17] She convened and signed a letter from seventeen governors to congressional leaders which commended increased U.S. military assistance to the government of Israel and urged, in the letter's words as this record carries them, "immediate and continued U.S. aid to Israel in the weeks and months to come". Off the card (C1): dated inside the reaction window, in every form. Two further limits. It is a collective letter, so its wording is seventeen governors' and not hers alone. And the copy this record cites, https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-leads-bipartisan-coalition-governors-stand-solidarity-israel , refused to open on 2026-08-17 and again on 2026-08-18, so no span in it could be checked.
[Position, 2026-07-24] A search of her own press archive recorded in this record 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. That is why the card's absence claim names one narrow thing she has not done rather than claiming she has said nothing.

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." All spans confirmed against the page.
[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, confirmed; 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 listing humanitarian aid among her messages. Off the card (C1). Address, also closed to us: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-rush-transcript-governor-hochul-updates-new-yorkers-solidarity-mission-israel .
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." Confirmed word for word against 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, confirmed against 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 off the card (C1); carriers 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." Confirmed against the page. 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, read and confirmed word for word. 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 carrier, 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. Off the card (C1).
[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 reader. They are written out above so it is visible exactly what is missing.