October 7, 2023, became the deadliest single day for Israel since its founding when Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups breached the Gaza-Israeli barrier and launched a massive terrorist attack at a music festival.
At least 1,200 Israelis mostly civilians perished, and more than 250 people were abducted into Gaza. Most of the captives were freed during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Gary Bauer is chairman of American Values and was a founding board member of Christians United for Israel.
“The brutal, intentional, horrific, evil attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 should have been a wake-up call to the entire world. In the event itself, it's almost impossible to imagine,” Bauer says. “My experience has been that most Americans don’t understand fully, even now, what happened. I've seen some of the video. It is the most disgusting thing you could ever see in your life.”
Shortly after October 7, antisemitism increased on university campuses, such as Columbia and Harvard, and the liberal news media, such as CNN and CBS.
He is convinced the Iranian regime was behind the attack.
“They've been funding Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, all sorts of extremist groups. They've attempted to assassinate the president of the United States. They've attempted to assassinate Israeli leaders,” Bauer says. “Clearly, the evidence is overwhelming that their hand was all over that attack that took place on October 7, in which Israeli civilians were brutally murdered.”
According to The Jerusalem Post, information attributed to the head of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)’s military intelligence reveals that two-thirds of the 6,000 terrorists that crossed into Israel from Gaza and participated in October 7.
While the attack is still an open wound for Israel, Reuters reported on the lives of some of the released captives and how they are thankful to have their lives back.
