Sen. Cory Booker Details His Journey While Jogging To Reach Bomb Shelter During Israel Attack

Senator Cory Booker was jogging in the Old City in Israel when he got an "urgent" phone call from his Chief of Staff telling him to return to the hotel as quickly as possible because Israel was under attack.

He quickly returned to the hotel and joined others in the bomb shelter of the hotel. Booker shared his story and how he escaped the area in an Instagram video.

Booker arrived in Jerusalem on Friday ahead of the N7 summit in Tel Aviv, an economic forum where he was scheduled to speak. In a video posted on Booker's Instagram page, he shared his story of being in Israel when the Hamas attack began.

"I am in Israel. About this time yesterday, I was jogging behind me in the Old City when I got an urgent call from my Chief of Staff telling me to get back to the hotel as quickly as I could, that Israel was under attack," he said. "There were thousands of rockets being launched. When I got back to the hotel, I joined others in the bomb shelter, or the stairwells of the hotel. Frightened faces. There were children and elderly, families, many Americans."

Booker explained there was a "sense of fear and worry." Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have been wounded, he continued to explain.

In the caption of his video, Booker said, "My team and I are now safe, but like many we are shaken, angered, and heartbroken by the hundreds killed, the thousands injured, those taken hostage, and all who are directly affected by these sickening terrorist attacks."

The comment section of the post was filled with emotion and opinions on Booker's stance.

One commenter met Booker during the attack and shared, "We met in the stairwell during the attacks, my husband and I had Shabbat lunch with Susan. Thank you for speaking up. ??"

Another person said, "Just Israel’s safety and security? That’s important of course but that is where the problem lies. Palestinians are a people too who need safety, security, and the right to self determination."

One person simply wrote, "Terror begets terror. When will the cycle end? My heart goes out to the innocents, on both sides."

Rep. Dan Goldman, Congressman for New York's 10th district in the House of Representatives also shared his experience in Israel.  He had three of his youngest children and wife with him during the terrifying experience.

"We were in Tel Aviv in a hotel, woken up about 6:30 in the morning on Saturday by sirens. I was aware that sirens go off when rockets are coming and previously briefed when I had gone with a congressional delegation to Israel. So, I had a decent understanding at least of what was going on, but it was a shock," he told Spectrum News NY1. "Woken up, three little kids, my wife, and we had 90 seconds to get to the interior stairwell of the hotel, which is what the shelter is for large hotels."

Goldman later shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, "At a minimum, Congress must replenish — and expand — the Iron Dome as soon as possible. I hope Republicans can get their House in order so we can pass emergency legislation to assist Israel in defending herself."