European Parliamentarians Visit Sites of Hamas’ Massacres

From October 29-31 AJC led a fact finding mission of 9 parliamentarians from across Europe to Israel to see first-hand the effects of Hamas' attacks against the Jewish state. The delegation consisted of: Lisa Badum (Germany), Magnus Berntsson (Sweden),  Pavel Kowal (Poland) Johannes Margreiter (Austria), Andreas Minnich (Austria), Daniel Mitov (Bulgaria), Lukas Savickas (Lithuania) Eleni Stavrou (Cyprus) and Johannes Wagner (Germany). It was accompanied by AJC Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal and AJC Germany Director Remko Leemhuis. 

In the South of Israeli the participants visited the kibbutzim Kfar Aza and Be'eri which were the sites of Hamas' most gruesome massacres and saw the devastation the terror organization had unleashed. In both kibbutzim evidence of the massacres was still clearly visible. The group talked to kibbutz members about how they plan to rebuild their communities. From the kibbutzim the Parliamentarians continued to Sderot, a city which has faced constant rocket attacks since Hamas first took over Gaza in 2007. There they met with the Sderot's mayor, Alon Davidi, who together with his daughter has been leading the town's evacuation efforts and explained to the participants what it is like to live so close to the Gaza border. Perhaps one of the most somber and shocking moments for the participants was the visit of the IDF's Shura base which now serves as a makeshift morgue for identifying the victims of Hamas' massacres. IDF soldiers explained this process to the participants just as Hamas was firing rockets at the area which were successfully intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome system. 

On the second day of their visit the parliamentarians continued from the South to the Center of Israel where they spoke to to the relatives of hostages kidnapped by Hamas who shared with the participants memories of their loved ones and urged the international community to help bring about the release of the hostages. From there the delegation continued to the Knesset and met both members of the government and the opposition, including Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (Likud) and Benny Gantz (Chairman of the National Unity Party).