The families of Hamas hostages traveled to Washington, D.C., Wednesday to lobby Congress to help get their family members home safely as they share their horrific firsthand accounts of the terror group's attack on the Jewish state.
Adele Raemer, who said she lost a countless number of friends in her kibbutz during the October 7 massacre, hid for nine hours in a safe room to avoid Hamas terrorists. She joined "FOX & Friends" to discuss her recollection of that devastating day and how it transformed her way of thinking thereafter.
"I was a teacher in our school for almost 40 years, and each time I turn on the TV, I learn of someone else who's been captured, who's kidnapped, who was murdered, who was slaughtered. I cannot count how many friends I lost," she said.
"I used to describe myself as a peace activist. On December and October 7th, something in my DNA switched… They didn't only murder people, they didn't only kidnap people. They didn't only have us sitting there for hours waiting to be slaughtered next. But the next stage, our entire communities have been displaced… We don't have a home to go back to, and we don't know how many years it's going to take till we can get back home."
She said she heard gunfire and militants speaking in Arabic while she was in hiding in hopes of avoiding capture. Although she was saved, many in her community were not as lucky.
Maya Parizer survived the Nova Music Festival massacre on the same horrific day, and she lost many friends who were unable to evade Hamas' gunfire during the terrorists' incursion into Israel. She pushed back on growing anti-Israel sentiment across the nation as war continues to rage in the Middle East.
"It's not a political issue," she told Steve Doocy Wednesday. "You can be either pro or against Israel, either pro or against Palestine. But one thing has to be clear. People that take hostages, people that burn babies alive and put axes in their heads cannot be paraded for it, cannot be saluted for. This is 2023. How can people justify and be thrilled and rip signs of kidnapped and say that it's all about Palestinian being oppressed? This is not a political issue."
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"This is a terror organization that beheads people, that burns them, and they should be condemned," she continued. "And for me, this is America. I'm an American citizen. How can people just look away and justify the fact that my friends are captive, their family members are captive? This is not a situation to be putting political opinions."
Mark Absker, whose family survived the Holocaust, said some of his family members have been taken by Hamas. He argued the Jewish people are more "pro-Palestinian than Hamas," reiterating the desire for "coexistence" and "peace."
He said he "never imagined" the horrors of the Holocaust would come into fruition again.
"I heard a lot of stories about it firsthand from my family," Absker said. "I was read a lot of testimonials, and they read a lot of stories about the children hiding in the shelters and hiding and trying to keep quiet while the soldiers rampaging outside. They['re] hearing, the soldiers… shooting outside, and they are waiting for the door to be open, and they'll be shot."
"I never in my life imagined that those pictures will come again into reality," he continued.
Gabriel Groisman, who is a U.S. attorney that helped organize the families' trips to meet with lawmakers, also pushed back on growing antisemitism nationwide in wake of the war, particularly the backlash fermenting on college campuses.
"These are not anti-Israel protests. These are not anti-Israel positions. This is antisemitism, clear and pure antisemitism," he told Doocy. "Our universities in the United States today, especially in the Ivies, are not safe for the Jewish students."
"We're hearing it from professors. They're making speeches. We saw it at Columbia University last week from a business school professor saying we can't keep our Jewish students safe on this campus," he continued. "This is happening all over the country, from U.C. Berkeley to all the Ivy League institutions and all over. This is really the result of the dehumanization of Jewish people, of the Jewish people all over the world."
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20-year-old Netta Atzili narrowly avoided being captured by Hamas during their bloody incursion, fighting for his life to evade being kidnapped. His parents are missing and were likely taken hostage by the terrorists.
"I want them back so bad," he said in an emotional plea. "I just want my parents back."
Israel has been at war with Hamas for nearly three weeks. At least 6,400 people have been killed on both sides as the world awaits a potential IDF-led ground invasion in Gaza.
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