Don’t forget American hostages in Hamas’s captivity

By U.S. Sen. John Kennedy
R-Louisiana

October 7 marked one year since Hamas showed the world what pure evil looks like.

Hamas slaughtered hundreds of young people at a music festival, burned families inside their homes, murdered parents in front of their children, and raped an untold number of women and girls.

The terrorists took joy in the killing. One even called home to brag to his mother about all the Jewish people he had murdered. These same monsters continue to torment the families of the nearly 100 hostages who remain in Hamas’s captivity.

While our hearts go out to the many Israeli families who lost loved ones during Hamas’s attack, we cannot forget that October 7 was an attack on Americans, too.

Hamas killed more than 40 American citizens on October 7 and the days that followed. Most recently, Hamas murdered a 23-year-old American named Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Mr. Goldberg-Polin spent nearly a year as a hostage in the terrorist-filled tunnels of Gaza. Hamas executed him and five other hostages just as Israeli forces were closing in on their rescue.

These terrorists kidnapped and murdered Mr. Goldberg-Polin because they hate Israel, they hate the Jewish people, and they hate Americans for standing by Israel’s side in the face of this evil.

At least four American hostages are still alive in Gaza, including Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and Keith Siegel. Israeli officials believe three other Americans—Judith Weinstein Haggai, Gadi Haggai and Itay Chen – died in captivity, but Hamas refuses to turn over the bodies of these Americans so their families can finally lay them to rest.

Many Americans are not aware that citizens of the United States are still suffering as hostages in Gaza. This may be due to the fact that the Biden-Harris administration has hardly mentioned them. 

Both President Biden and Vice President Harris seem to have fallen silent in their support for Israel to appease a handful of leftist institutions that believe Hamas was justified in raping and murdering innocent people.

The Biden-Harris administration continues to support the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA), for example, despite clear evidence that the global organization is riddled with Hamas supporters. Just last week, Israel killed a Hamas leader in Lebanon who just happened to be an UNRWA employee.

It’s not rare for UNRWA officials to be moonlighting as Hamas terrorists. The United Nations even fired nine of its UNRWA employees who may have participated in the October 7 attacks in Israel. Still, the Biden-Harris administration refuses to hold UNRWA accountable for the terrorists lurking among its ranks.

The same is true on college campuses. Last spring, anti-Israel rioters set up encampments on public property, vandalized buildings with antisemitic slogans, and blocked Jewish students from attending classes. 

One protester at Columbia University even held up a sign stating that Hamas’s “next targets” were the Jewish students on American campuses. As some of the most influential universities in America devolved into campgrounds for antisemites, the Biden-Harris administration sat on its hands.

These campus protestors—and far too many of my colleagues in Washington—seem to be confused about who the bad guys are in this conflict between Israel and Hamas. People in Louisiana, however, aren’t confused.

Louisianians understand that the Hamas terrorists who brutally murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians are the bad guys. They know these campus protesters who are rooting for Hamas are like rocks, only dumber. They support the Israelis who are fighting to free the hostages, not the monsters who carried out the October 7 attack.

As we reflect on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, I hope President Biden, Vice President Harris, and my colleagues in Washington will remember why we need to stand strong alongside Israel in its fight against evil. We must have Israel’s back until every American is home and Hamas is in ruins.

Sen. Kennedy's column first appeared in Ouachita Citizen.