Ignoring an official State Department travel advisory cautioning Americans against visiting Israel at this time, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, his successor Michael Bloomberg, and New York Governor George Pataki toured the sites of recent terror attacks in Jerusalem as part of a 13-hour solidarity visit to the country.

After so many people made pilgrimages of solidarity to "ground zero" in lower Manhattan, including most recently Prime Minister Ariel Sharon two weeks ago, the New York leaders felt it appropriate that they should likewise show their support to the residents of Jerusalem, who struggle to maintain their normal lifestyles in the face of terrorism.

"Americans will never forget" Israel's friendship following

"We're together with you" - New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

the September 11 terror attacks, Pataki declared. "All terrorists will be defeated no matter where they are, be it in New York, Afghanistan, Jerusalem or Gaza," he said.

During his visit, Giuliani said, "The people of New York can learn a lot from the people of Jerusalem and Israel. You have had to deal with many acts of terror over a long time, and you learned to continue on with your lives, no matter what. This kind of terror also struck us in September.

"I can think of no other people, no other country, who gave us more support, who gave us an example of how to stand up to terror than the people of Israel," he said. "We're together with you. We are bound by blood."

"The terrorism just has to stop," Bloomberg added. "Both Americans and Israelis have to work together to stop it. But not just Americans and Israelis. We all have to work together."

The New York leaders visited downtown Jerusalem Sunday morning. Jaffa Road was temporarily renamed "New York Street," announced by a sign hung outside the Sbarro pizzeria, where 15 Israelis were killed in a suicide bombing in August. On the Ben Yehuda Street pedestrian mall, the visitors planted oak and maple trees near where two suicide bombers had taken the lives of eleven young Israelis eight days before.

Everywhere the New York visitors went, they were greeted by applause, but none of them garnered more appreciation than Giuliani. "We love you Rudy," shouted onlookers at Zion Square and at the Western Wall Plaza. Police had to hold back a middle-aged woman who rushed up to the mayor saying in English, "Mr. Giuliani, I love you."

The most emotional moments of the visit were when the New Yorkers split up to visit the victims of Jerusalem's recent terror attacks, some of whom are still hospitalized. Bloomberg and Pataki went to Hadassah Hospital to visit Yossi Leifer, 29, from Borough Park, New York, who was wounded in both legs by metal bolts contained in the terrorists' bombs. Bloomberg invited Leifer, a travel agent by profession, to attend his inauguration in New York on January 1st. Leifer said the New Yorkers' visit "gives us a great leap of courage and inspiration. I just want to get out of here and get on with life," he added.

At Shaare Zedek Hospital, Giuliani visited Yonatan Barnik, 18, who was recovering from cancer only to be wounded in the Ben Yehuda Street bombing. "I have overcome cancer, so will you," the mayor promised Barnik.

At a luncheon hosted by Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres, Giuliani said he had left the United States only four times in his eight years as mayor, and three of those trips were to Israel. "So I'm a half Israeli citizen now," he said. In a previous solidarity visit to Israel in 1996, Giuliani rode a Jerusalem bus following a wave of suicide bombings in the city.

Giuliani was accompanied most of the day by his friend, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert. On their visit to President Moshe Katsav, the president joked that due to Giuliani's popularity, the Jerusalem mayor better look out against the potential competition. "If he runs it will not be for the position of mayor, but for that of prime minister," Olmert joked.

The hectic day of touring was culminated by a special Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony at Zion Square, organized as a memorial to the eleven victims of the December 1 suicide attacks as well. In his words to the crowd, Pataki declared Jerusalem "the eternal united and undivided capital of the state of Israel."

"We are united in our war against terror," Giuliani stated. On the stage where the mayor, Bloomberg and Pataki stood with their Israeli hosts was a banner with the familiar Hanukkah holiday slogan, "We have come to drive out the darkness."

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