Schumer, Romney, Other Senators Forced to Shelter as Rockets Rain Down on Tel Aviv

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and other members of a congressional delegation to Israel were rushed to a shelter when Hamas rockets rained down on the city as the Israel-Hamas war heats up.

Schumer and Romney were there along with Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), meeting with government leaders and families impacted by the violence. Their press conference was delayed when sirens sounded and they were forced to head to safety.

Schumer posted to social media about the situation:

While in Tel Aviv today, our delegation was rushed to a shelter to wait out rockets sent by Hamas. It shows you what Israelis have to go through. We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself. pic.twitter.com/wS3kq6xFVJ

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) October 15, 2023

When the press conference was finally able to resume, Schumer said:

We also experienced what Israelis experience almost every day.

We were having a lunch up in the hotel and the sirens went off. We heard them and we were all rushed into a shelter and had to stay there until the coast was clear. And then a few minutes ago, this press conference was delayed for the same reason.

Schumer reiterated America’s strong support for Israel. He did not, however, mention Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) or Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MI), two congresswomen who have been accused of anti-Semitic statements and who have been critical of Israel. Nor did he bring up the $6 billion in frozen funds the Biden administration recently released to Iran, money that may have helped finance the Hamas attacks.

The senators met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv early Sunday, a statement from Herzog’s office said. It added that they had “emphasized the cross-party support for the State of Israel.”

Schumer, 72, the highest-ranking Jewish official in U.S. history and the first Jewish majority leader in the Senate, is leading the group of lawmakers “to show the United States’ unwavering support for Israel,” a spokesperson from his office said ahead of the trip.

Before he traveled to Israel, he tweeted that he “sat down for Shabbat dinner with my family.”

This morning I welcomed a bipartisan solidarity delegation of US Senators led by Senate Majority Leader @SenSchumer, along with @SenatorRomney, @SenMarkKelly, @SenJackyRosen, @BillCassidy. They came to stand with the people of Israel and to make clear that when it comes to the… pic.twitter.com/MHScbKng30

— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) October 15, 2023

More than 3,000 people have been killed so far in the burgeoning war, and there are as many as 150 American hostages believed to be held captive by Hamas in Gaza. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is doubling down on reinforcing U.S. presence in the region, and on Saturday night, Defense Secretary Llloyd Austin announced that a second aircraft carrier was being sent to the eastern Mediterranean.

This isn’t the first time in this conflict that U.S. officials have had to take cover:

Last weekend, in the hours after Hamas’s initial attacks, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and his family were forced to shelter when Hamas launched a barrage of rocket attacks during their trip to Israel. Separately, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) had to take refuge in a bomb shelter while visiting Jerusalem.