WASHINGTON – Rep. Cory Mills has returned to the United States from Israel, but his efforts to bring Americans trapped in the Jewish state back home have not stopped, he exclusively told The Post on Friday.
The Florida Republican helped get another 159 Americans back to the US, despite many major airlines halting all flights to and from Israel as its war with Hamas progresses.
The Americans landed Friday morning at JFK Airport, where Mills was waiting to personally to welcome them home.
“As an elected official and an Army combat veteran, I couldn’t stand idly by as American citizens struggled to leave Israel without any timely evacuation plans from the Biden Administration,” Mills said.
“Once again, I found myself taking on the work that President Biden should have been handling.”
The latest arrivals showed up nearly a week after Mills returned to the US Oct. 14 to take up his legislative duties ahead of Wednesday’s House speaker vote.
The congressman had been in Israel for a week and a half, shuttling out more than 100 Americans via neighboring Jordan after reading a Post report highlighting the plight of Silver Prout, an American trapped in Israel with a California-based church group.
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The members had been on a Holy Land tour when the Hamas terror group attacked the Jewish state on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 people — including at least 33 Americans.
“Upon returning to Washington, DC, I realized my mission wasn’t complete,” Mills told The Post.
“Despite my elected duties in the Speaker’s vote, I’ve been working diligently with our team to continue assisting stranded/abandoned Americans.”
While the White House last week announced that the State Department would be chartering flights to evacuate Americans from Israel, several US citizens on the ground there have told The Post contact with the embassy has been spotty.
“This administration has displayed a deeply concerning pattern of disregarding the safety of its own citizens,” said Mills.
Upon returning to Washington, the congressman got in touch with the Mercury One nonprofit — founded by former Fox News host Glenn Beck — which agreed to sponsor a flight out of Israel.
“With the support of Mercury One, I stepped up to ensure their secure passage and safe return home,” Mills said.
“Serving in this capacity is a great honor.”
The nonprofit, which helped evacuate more than 9,500 Americans trapped in Afghanistan during the 2021 US withdrawal, doesn’t “wait for the government to act, we step in and do it ourselves,” executive director JP Decker told The Post.
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip over three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early-morning ambush Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Terrorists killed more than 1,400 Israelis, wounded more than 4,200, and took at least 200 hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce “We are at war,” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials — which are controlled by Hamas — report at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured since the war began.
“We stand with Israel as they fight this war against evil. We also know that many Americans remain in Israel with no way of getting home,” Decker said.
“Thanks to our generous donors, everyday Americans all across the country who simply donate what they can, we are honored to be flying these Americans home free of charge to them.”