Gavin Newsom claims he saw video of Hamas beheading victims after meeting with survivors on trip to Israel
- The governor of Florida spent ten hours in Tel Aviv on Friday on his way to the Far East
- He met survivors of the Hamas terror attack and the mother of a hostage
- He said the worst was seeing a Hamas video of people being beheaded
Florida Governor Gavin Newsom described Monday that he was shown gruesome images of Hamas victims during his visit to Israel.
He said there were also people who had been beheaded and that the experience had brought him closer to understanding the horrors inflicted on the Israeli people.
βThe worst part about it β the actual video: I saw heads, decapitated people and their bodies, lying there, dead. To see someone’s eyes and mouth being poked to see if they’re still alive, to find out they’re still alive after being shot to the ground,” he said.
βIt goes along with understanding the emotions of Israelis about the atrocities that took place and the 1,400 lives lost. It’s no longer intellectual.’
Newsome spoke to reporters in Hong Kong after spending Friday in Israel.
Gov. Gavin Newsom spent 10 hours in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Friday. He met with officials and visited Sourasky Medical Center to hear the stories of survivors and family members of hostages
Newsom said he was struck by the resilience of all the Israelis he met
During his 10-hour visit to Tel Aviv, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and survivors of the October 7 attacks that killed 1,400 people.
He said the Israeli government showed him a video of militants poking a person in the face to see if he was alive before beheading him with a backhoe.
The war is entering its third week, with Israel continuing to bomb the Gaza Strip as it prepares for an expected land invasion.
The US is reportedly pushing for a delay so it can boost its troop deployments in the region, warning that Iran and its allies are using an invasion to justify an expansion of the war.
Newsom also described meeting a young California woman shot in the Hamas attack and a mother whose son was wounded and kidnapped.
βI listened to the sadness and fear in a mother’s voice as she spoke about her son β a Californian currently held hostage in Gaza β whose arm was blown off by a terrorist’s grenade,β he said.
βI hugged a girl β another Californian, born in Los Angeles β who was shot in the leg by Hamas and left for dead, under truly horrific circumstances.
“I grieved with families in mourning, I met young soldiers fresh out of bomb shelters and battlefields, and I sat with leaders who bear the responsibility of responding to all of this.”
Despite the horror, he said he was struck by a sense of resilience.
Armed Hamas fighters left Gaza early on Saturday, October 7, killing 1,400 Israelis. They are now believed to be holding more than 200 hostages in the Gaza Strip
Newsom spoke to reporters after arriving in Hong Kong. Along the way he stopped in Israel
The war is entering its third week, with Israel continuing to bomb the Gaza Strip as it prepares for an expected land invasion
βThat is the Israeli spirit,β he said.
He also told reporters that he was working to see if his office could help rescue California man, Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
But he said he could not meet Palestinians or travel to Gaza, although he tried to get California to send aid to the enclave.
And he told reporters that he had not raised the issue of a ceasefire with Israeli leaders.
βI wish I was president of the United States,β he said, according to a pool reporter traveling with him. “I could do all those things.”