Members of the Jewish community in New Jersey have been keeping a close eye on Israel this past week due to some recent terror attacks.

It has been a time of great turmoil as Israel gets ready to mark its 75th independence anniversary.

And for many decades, the Jewish state has had close ties with another state of roughly the same size – New Jersey.

News 12’s Eric Landskroner spoke with Wesley Mathews, of Choose New Jersey, an organization that promotes job creation and investment in the Garden State.

Choose New Jersey recently opened an office in Tel Aviv.

“If Israeli companies, particularly start-ups, think about expanding beyond the shores of the Mediterranean, their first port of call is the northeast of the United States. And often times, I would say the majority of times, that includes New Jersey,” Mathews says. “We want to make sure that we keep that message consistent and in the minds of all of the innovation economy and the players in it.”

Choose New Jersey has offices in Europe, India and Ireland.