During a solidarity trip to Israel this week, Jewish actor Michael Douglas, 79, met with the families of hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip and toured areas of the country’s south, including the site of the Nova music festival, where 364 attendees were murdered on Oct. 7 by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists after they infiltrated the southern border.
On Sunday, he visited Kibbutz Be’eri, witnessing the devastation and speaking with survivors. About 100 members of its community were murdered with 30 taken captive by Hamas and brought into Gaza.
Douglas also met in Jerusalem with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who presented him with an Israeli dog-tag necklace, a pin with a yellow ribbon and a disc with the engraved words, “Our heart is a prisoner in Gaza”—all symbols of support for those still held hostage by Hamas.
Herzog told Douglas during their meeting that so many in the world “don’t know the true story of the existence of the Jewish people,” before pointing to how Muslims and Christians live within Israel in peace.
Commenting on the pro-Hamas protesters on North American college campuses since Oct. 7, Douglas called the students “brainwashed,” lamenting: “When you try to talk to many of them, there is no education. There’s no knowledge.”
