‘Butchered, Chopped, Burned’: Israeli President Isaac Herzog Recounts Horror Of Hamas Attack

Israeli President Isaac Herzog recalled the harrowing scenes he witnessed following Hamas’ brutal attack in October, equating the “clear genocide” he saw to the evils his father combated during World War II.

Herzog appeared for a ranging 40-minute long exclusive interview on TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored to discuss the ongoing campaign against Hamas, humanitarian issues in Gaza and the reaction of the world to the conflict.

“You went to one kibbutz which was attacked,” host Piers Morgan said, “and had to wash blood off your shoes…”

“I went into Be’eri Kibbutz to see the havoc, the atrocities, the burning homes,” Herzog said. “In one of the homes, when I walked in, there was a pool of blood still drying. There was a woman’s scalp with a rake holding it. That shows how atrocious these people were, how crazy, animalistic, barbaric, and sadistic they are. Families were tied up in barbed wire and burned together.”

He continued, reflecting on the suffering of Israeli civilians during the attack: “I could only think what they said to the Almighty before they parted Earth. I keep on meeting families of the hostages, endless stories. Why would Kfir, a 9-month-old baby be hijacked? Why would Lia, three years old, be hijacked when all her family has been killed? They just took her. Clear genocide took place in that area, 10% of their members have been totally annihilated, killed, butchered, chopped, burned.”

Morgan then asked about Herzog’s father, born in Belfast in Northern Ireland and who fought in the British Army during World War II against Nazi Germany. Chaim Herzog played a role in the Normandy invasion, capturing ranking Nazi Heinrich Himmler and helped liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

“Did you ever imagine you yourself would walk into a scene so reminiscent of the horrors of the Holocaust?” Morgan asked.

“My father joined the British Army in order to fight the Nazis,” Herzog said. “He always spoke about the immense resilience of the British people and his experience in Bergen-Belsen, which was one of the greatest horrors of humanity… There were piles of dead skeletons there as he depicted the awful smell of the atrocities.”

He continued: “So, that’s why it was imprinted in his being. And that’s how he passed it on to me: Never take the Jewish state for granted. There’s an empire of evil from Tehran emanating with a whole culture of hate to eradicate all of us, and I say to my friends all over the world – ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis in Yemen, all they want is to chop our heads and get to you guys next. This is the real challenge of the world today.”

In a later part of the conversation, challenging those who attending pro-Palestine marches, Herzog said: “How could you truly justify chopping children’s heads? How could you justify burning entire families? How could you justify raping women of all ages and taking them hostage? How could you justify tearing off people’s scalps? Taking a mother’s iPhone and broadcasting to the entire WhatsApp group, how you are torturing her husband, killing her daughter, and her young children?”

“This is a test for humanity and a moral call for moral clarity,” he said. “And human beings and leaders must be outraged and understand that when you give a nation the right for self-defence, it has a right for self-defence.”