VIDEO - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg arrived in the Qassam-battered town of Sderot Friday morning, where he met with Mayor Eli Moyal and spoke with the father of Ela Abuksis, a 17 year-old teenage girl killed in January 2005 by shrapnel from a rocket while protecting her brother during a Qassam attack.
"It's a reminder to all of us that terrorism is trying to take our freedom," Bloomberg told Ela's father, Yonatan.
"Sadly, some people pay with their lives, as in your case," he added.
Boomberg added that Ela Abuksis was a smiling and happy teenager, when her life was suddenly cut short.
Bloomberg checks out Qassam rockets (Photo: Amir Cohen)
The New York mayor, accompanied by security guards and Eli Moyal, also arrived at a vantage point over looking Bet Hanoun in Gaza, where most of the Qassam attacks on Sderot originate from.
"This is our reality," Moyal told Bloomberg, as he overlooked Gaza with binoculars.
Speaking at the vantage point, Bloomberg said, "Israel has the right to exist… It was founded in the US in 1947, in the United Nations."
He added that the Bush administration was highly supportive of Israel, and expressed hope that the "freedom in the US and Israel" would spread to other parts of the world.