Close to Home: What We Can Learn from Israel When It Comes to LGBT Rights; Latinos and Israel: Why We Should Care about a Strong Israel and Lessons We Can Learn from Them; Strange Journey: My Story as a Young LGBT Latino Who Cares About a Strong Israel
Daniel Hernandez Jr, is a young Pro-Israel Activist. While not Jewish Daniel has been a passionate supporter for many years of a continued strong bond between the United States and Israel. He has spoken at AIPAC Dinners throughout the country as well as the Policy Conference on the importance of Latino Outreach. Daniel is particularly concerned with doing outreach to the Latino and LGBT communities to ensure that this is not merely a Jewish Issue but instead an issue that all Americans care about.
Starting from the age of 10 when a teacher who was the daughter of holocaust survivors spoke to his class about the importance of the effects of the holocaust, Daniel became fascinated in learning more. It was during this time that he read things like Night by Elie Wiesel and began learning about the creation of Israel.
He was a congressional intern for the office of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona’s Eighth Congressional District and while on the job assisting Congresswoman Giffords with a constituent event in Tucson on January 8, 2011, Daniel took actions for which he is widely credited with saving the life of the congresswoman after a gunman shot her and 18 other people. His medical training, quick thinking, and brave actions on that day have caused him to be celebrated as a true American hero, although he humbly rejects the title.
He was an honored guest of the President and First Lady during the 2011 State of the Union address. He also addressed President Obama and a crowd of more than 27,000 people and over 500 international media outlets at the “Tucson: Together we Thrive” memorial on January 12, 2011.
Daniel has conducted more than 1600 media interviews in English and Spanish with local, state, national and international outlets. Appearances include: ABC’s This Week, NBC’s Today Show, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show, The Fox Report, Univision’s Al Punto, BBC World Service’s Outlook program, GQ, NPR’s Tell Me More, Time, People, CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, CBS’s Early Show, and the Washington Post.
Daniel began his activism in 2007 working on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. In 2008 he worked on the Gabrielle Giffords congressional campaign. It was during this time that Daniel’s passion for Israel was cemented while working on both campaigns he worked with a group of self-pro-claimed Yentas who taught him about the importance of Pro-Israel Advocacy.