JERUSALEM, Israel — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie visited Israel on Sunday and dismissed calls for a ceasefire in the war against the Palestinian Hamas terror organization, saying Israel had a right to ensure the safety of its citizens.

Standing in the ruins of Kfar Aza, one of the communities hardest hit by the Hamas terror attack on October 7, Christie said that the U.S. should not pressure Israel to “stand down” in Gaza while there was still an active threat to the lives of Israeli citizens.

Christie was joined by the speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Amir Ohana, as well as members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as he visited homes riddled with bullets and saw the evidence of the atrocities in Kfar Aza himself.

KFAR AZA, ISRAEL – NOVEMBER 12: Chris Christie, Republican Presidential Candidate, looks at a wall in a home covered in bullet holes at Kibbutz Kfar Aza which was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7 near the Gaza Border on November 12, 2023 in Kfar Aza, Israel. The former New Jersey governor, who is running for the U.S. Republican nomination in next year’s presidential race, is visiting the country in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas that left an estimated 1,200 dead and over 240 kidnapped, according to Israeli authorities. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

The Times of Israel reported:

Christie, a former governor of New Jersey and 2024 hopeful, said that Israel “must continue to fight until they have degraded that [Hamas] capability to a point where they can say to their people, come back and live her safely and securely. Until that comes, I don’t think calls for a ceasefire make any sense.”

With antisemitism and anti-Israel protests flaring up across the United States, Christie said that many Americans do support Israel’s right to defend itself.

“I want the people of Israel to know that there are hundreds of millions of Americans who stand with them, who understand the atrocities that were committed,” he said. “In the future, we need to stand absolutely shoulder to shoulder with Israel, no daylight.”

Christie’s presidential campaign has largely focused on attacking former President Donald Trump. But he has also made foreign policy a priority of his campaign. In August, for example, he visited Ukraine and met with President Volodymr Zelensky in Kyiv.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.