Two readers sent me this 44-minute video posted by Tom Gross, showing Emily Hand, a 9-year-old girl kidnapped by Hamas, comforting her father Thomas, an Irishman, as he’s interviewed by Piers Morgan. (Hand’s wife died of cancer, and Thoma’s ex-wife, who served as Emily’s stepmother, was killed by Hamas.) It’s ineffably moving to see young Emily stroke her father’s face, wiping the tears from his eyes as he recounts the family’s ordeal.
You may remember Thomas Hand saying, when he thought his daughter was dead in Gaza, that her death was probably for the best, for her fate would have been worse had she been taken alive: he imagined what Hamas would do to Emily.(A clip from that interview is at 11:42.) I’m sure he feels differently now! But he did have to explain to Emily, after she returned, that her stepmother was dead.
My friend said this:
You have to watch this—it’s insanely powerful. I’m crying. He just lays it all out. Makes me want to move to Israel and help. . .
Towards the end, Thomas Hand gets very angry and calls Western university students “idiots”. . . and he mentions Harvard.
Here are Tom Gross’s notes:
Thomas Hand, the Irish-born father of Emily Hand who was released after 50 days in Hamas hell, gave an in-depth interview yesterday evening to Piers Morgan on Britain’s TalkTV. Emily was 8 when she was kidnapped and turned 9 in captivity.
One viewer said: “How she wiped her father’s tears, caressed and cared for him when he started to cry in the interview. Melted my heart.”
Also of note is when Thomas Hand says ignorant critics of Israel in the West “don’t know a thing” and have “no idea what they are talking about”.
Hand is no conservative: he brought up Emily on a kibbutz because he liked its socialist atmosphere. As for Emily’s kidnapping during a sleepover and the attack on the kibbutz, you’ll have to listen to the interview.
Three bits are worth noting: about 30 minutes in, Thomas explains how he told Emily that her stepmother/caretaker was dead. (See especially from 31:15 on.)
At 32:25, the discussion turns to politics, Israel’s response, and how the West has reacted. Thomas gets quite exercised, especially when he gets to the accusation that Israel is an “apartheid state.”
At 43:00, Piers asks Thomas to ask Emily (in Hebrew) how she felt when she saw her father again after her release.
A final word from me: of the roughly 200 people taken hostage by Hamas, from several countries, about 136 remain in Gaza. That there is no world outcry about this; that the UN hasn’t condemned Hamas for this; and that the Court of Justice in the Hague is not putting Hamas on trial for real genocide, including taking civilian hostages, firing rockets into Israel, swearing to keep attacking Israel until all the Jews are dead (as specified in its charter) and many other terroristic war crimes—all of this should bring deep shame to the West
As with many YouTube videos, this one is periodically interrupted with annoying advertisements. Nothing is immune from being monetized these days.
If you find the YouTube ads annoying, as I do, I recommend using Brave as a browser. It automatically stops all ads on websites and in YouTube videos as well. It makes for a much more pleasant experience.
Thanks, yes, it was recommended by a friend, I too need to migrate.
If you use “Firefox”, you can download an extension called AdBlocker for YT and have no more problems with advertising.
I couldn’t watch the video. It pains me too much to watch. On a positive note, perhaps this young lady will grow up to be an adult who will bring some sense to a world full of violence. It seems that egos override sensibilities to talk and work things out instead of bullying other people/countries and ending up in a war that accomplishes NOTHING.
Irena, if Hamas is allowed to continue to use Gaza and other Islamic areas as havens to attack Israel, the people of that region will never know peace. Never. Hamas must be neutralized by whatever means necessary to prevent the desired genocide of non-Islamic peoples that is part of its reason for being. It’s the only way to achieve any kind of lasting peace.
I’m not sure I understand where you are coming from. However, you express your frustration that ‘egos’ are bullying other people/countries, which I can only assume is a criticism of Israel. Please correct me if I am wrong.
The war currently going on is hell on earth; it’s terrible, all rational and decent people would agree. Working things out would, of course, be the ideal scenario, but how the hell could that ever happen?
Have you read the Hamas Charter? I suspect you haven’t, as no one with the merest suggestion of a brain cell could ever think peace is achievable through talking. It consists only of vile, inhuman, unhinged and murderous anti-Jewish hatred. It even claims that the Jews were responsible for WW2.
Hamas’s stated aim is the elimination – the genocide – of all Jews and the charter repeatedly reaffirms it. Reading it you can almost feel the spittle of an unhinged lunatic screaming 2 inches in front of you.
What Hamas did was medieval in its cruelty, but they did it with enthusiasm and planned it meticulously. Their goal was to shock and torture Jews to the maximum, they wanted to terrorise a whole population in the cruellest, most debased and inhuman way. They achieved that.
If you were a person living in Israel, scared (and you would be) that this would happen again, and angry as hell that your neighbours or family members had been butchered, what would you do? Ask the Israeli government to calm down and back off? Campaign to see that the violence inflicted by these traumatised and displaced Palestinians (who want you and your kids dead) is understood rather than oppressed? Of course not, you want to ensure that it can never happen again, because you’re livid, traumatised and terrified. You want to see the terrorists eradicated and that’s what the Israeli government is attempting. What else can they do?
The first responsibility of a government is to protect its citizens. Please tell me how, when Hamas is your enemy, this can be achieved without force.
The only bullying going on right now is from the U.S. government in its efforts to intimidate Israel’s government into disengaging the IDF from Gaza and defaulting on its duty to protect its population from extermination. (I try not to comment negatively on the domestic policy of a foreign government but its foreign policy is fair game because it affects the world, especially when it is the only country that matters in terms of over-all Western security.)
Palestinian fighters [who had been observed infiltrating back into Northern Gaza in recent days] are attacking Israeli forces in areas of the northern Gaza Strip where Israeli forces conducted clearing operations previously.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-january-17-2024
I cannot watch these videos either, but I do thank you for making them available, your comments, and particularly your “A final word from me” paragraph.
Let me add my thanks to our host for the video and for his comments. A peculiarly grotesque feature of contemporary politics is that Hamas—welcomed to the “global Left” by Professor Judith Butler, and favored by nitwit demonstrators who imagine themselves to be The Left—wreaked its savagery on members of kibbutzim. We can be sure that the demonstrators are even more ignorant about the kibbutz movement than they are about the locations of the river and the sea in their chants.
+1
I watched this yesterday. Thomas Hand has lived through multiple nightmares, so has his daughter Emily. Hand and his daughter are courageous and authentic voices pushing back powerfully against terror, terrorism and radicalism.
Here are some related notes.
re: South Africa’s complaint with the ICG:
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(0) Quote: (Economist) South Africa’s alliances with terror groups:
Archived here: https://archive.is/boEVL
“Exactly a week before the country was due to accuse Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice (icj) on January 11th, President Cyril Ramaphosa played host to Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, a Sudanese warlord whose Janjaweed militia and its successor are accused of genocide and war crimes in Darfur. Adding to the insult, Mr Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, later visited the genocide museum in Kigali, Rwanda.
Just as jarring was a ceremony on December 5th marking ten years since the death of Nelson Mandela, a man seen by the world as a symbol of reconciliation and peace. A Hamas delegation led by Bassem Naim, a senior official, joined Mandela’s grandson, Mandla, in a march through the streets of Pretoria, the capital.”
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1) South Africa is considered the “rape” capital of the world, labeled as such by Interpol: the government of South Africa has been predictably ineffective in addressing the tragedy.
** Can the citizens of South Africa file a complaint against its own government at the ICG?
https://thecradleofhope.org/rape-in-south-africa/
March 14, 2023 / The Cradle of Hope
“Rape is a pervasive problem in South Africa.
Many survivors of rape don’t report the rape to the police. Interpol has named South Africa the “Rape capital of the world.” They further note that a woman is raped or sexually abused every 25 seconds in South Africa. It is a devastating crime that profoundly impacts the lives of its victims and their loved ones. In South Africa, the statistics are alarmingly high, with 42,289 rapes reported during 2019 / 2020. This staggering number highlights the severity of the problem and the urgent need for action.
A critical contributing factor to the high rates of rape in South Africa is that many men in the country do not see women as equals but as a prospective possession to be conquered and controlled. This attitude is deeply ingrained in the culture and is reinforced by societal norms and stereotypes.”
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2) Unemployment is between ~32% and ~40% in South Africa.
https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/statistics-south-africa-quarterly-labour-force-survey-quarter-three-2023-14
Again, the government of South Africa has been predictably ineffective in addressing the problem.
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3) DEI is on steroids in South Africa, resulting in passing grades being lowered to a woefully embarrassing 30%-50%, leaning heavily to(ward) 40%.
https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/548896/south-africas-controversial-30-matric-pass-mark-how-it-works/
“Outrage is often expressed over the fact that the lowest possible pass mark per subject is 30%, however, what is not fully understood is that no candidate can obtain a National Senior Certificate if he/she passes all seven subjects at 30%. The learners must pass at least three subjects at 40%,” it said.
The department said that it is aware of arguments that raising this threshold to 50% would improve the education system; however, it said that this change would not be made as the system aims to encourage ‘different levels of achievement’.”
University admission: for a learner to gain admission to a bachelor programme at one of the country’s universities, they must attain a minimum of 50% in four subjects, the department said. Similarly, a learner will need to attain a minimum of 40% in four subjects to enter a Diploma programme, it said.
“Hence it needs to be understood that candidates scoring 30% in most of their subjects will not qualify for admission to a Higher Education Institution. However, not all learners are expected to qualify for Higher Education admission,” the department said.
** University admission is racialized.
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4) South Africa is unable to provide its citizens with adequate power:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/africa/south-africa-power-blackouts-intl-cmd/index.html
“Johannesburg, South Africa
Dead chickens and decomposing bodies: Inside South Africa’s power blackout ‘pandemic’
Car crashes, opportunistic criminals, rotting food, decomposing bodies, bankrupt businesses, and water shortages. Welcome to life under South Africa’s power blackouts.
Last week the grim extent of the outages was laid bare when South Africans were advised to bury dead loved ones within four days.
In a public statement, the South African Funeral Practitioners Association warned that bodies in mortuaries were rapidly decomposing because of the unrelenting electricity outages, putting huge pressure on funeral parlors struggling to process corpses.”
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5) Water shortages in communities:
“Water crisis in South Africa: damning report finds 46% contamination, 67% of treatment works near to breaking down”
https://theconversation.com/water-crisis-in-south-africa-damning-report-finds-46-contamination-67-of-treatment-works-near-to-breaking-down-219350
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6) South Africa has one of the world’s worst education systems
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2017/01/07/south-africa-has-one-of-the-worlds-worst-education-systems
“AFTER half an hour of pencil-chewing Lizeka Rantsan’s class lines up at her desk to hand in its maths tests. The teacher at Oranjekloof primary school in Cape Town thanks the 11- and 12-year-olds and flicks through the papers. Ms Rantsan sighs, unimpressed. Pulling one sheet of errant scribbles from the pile she asks: “How are we supposed to help these children?”
It is a question that South Africa is failing to answer. In a league table of education systems drawn up in 2015 by the OECD club of mainly rich countries, South Africa ranks 75th out of 76. In November the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a quadrennial test sat by 580,000 pupils in 57 countries, had South Africa at or near the bottom of its various rankings (see chart), though its scores had improved since 2011. Its children are behind those in poorer parts of the continent. A shocking 27% of pupils who have attended school for six years cannot read, compared with 4% in Tanzania and 19% in Zimbabwe….”
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7) South Africa Is on the Road to Becoming a Failed State:
“The euphoria in financial markets that accompanied Cyril Ramaphosa’s election victory in 2018 failed to account for the corruption and theft that have become the nation’s dominant post-apartheid leitmotifs.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-03-29/south-africa-is-on-the-road-to-becoming-a-failed-state
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8) Corruption is the ‘status-quo’ in South Africa:
https://www.transparency.org/en/news/cpi-2022-sub-saharan-africa-corruption-compounding-multiple-crises
“While South Africa (43) scores above the regional average of 32, public sector corruption is a serious problem in the continent’s southernmost country, too. Most recently, this has been underscored by a series of corruption scandals involving the former and incumbent presidents.
In June 2022, a judicial commission led by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo delivered the final findings of a three-year inquiry into deep-rooted corruption in South Africa. The roughly 5,000-page report implicated the country’s former president Jacob Zuma, but also found fault with the way the current president Cyril Ramaphosa handled allegations of misconduct. In October, the president issued a response to the recommendations and findings, in which he announced that the government will put forward and consult the public on a “comprehensive proposal on an effective and integrated anti-corruption institutional framework”.”
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9) Crime is high in South Africa:
“South Africa’s police are losing the war on crime – here’s how they need to rethink their approach”:
https://theconversation.com/south-africas-police-are-losing-the-war-on-crime-heres-how-they-need-to-rethink-their-approach-218048
“South Africa’s crime statistics for the third quarter of 2023 show that people continue to face a serious problem of violent crime, especially murder and attempted murder. The country’s per capita murder rate for 2022/23 was the highest in 20 years at 45 per 100,000 (a 50% increase compared to 2012/13).
In response to this crisis, the South African Police Service has reconfigured its policing strategies and plans. Yet, these approaches offer very little innovation. They mostly reaffirm the way the police have typically pursued policing for the past three decades – fighting a “war” on crime and “sweeping away” criminals.”
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10) South Africa is home to phenomenal wilderness areas, a great rugby team, and warm -beautiful- people of all races. It’s also SUPERB at ‘exporting’ outrage and virtue by manipulating global events to its own advantage – employing a philosophy that is maddeningly short-sighted. 2024 is an election year in South Africa and the ANC (an utterly corrupt organization) is sweating.
*** 2024.01.12 – Dr Frans Cronje, Former CEO of the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR) – Discussing his thoughts on the ICJ application by the South Africa government. It’s well worth a listen. He makes the case that the ICJ complaint will make it that much harder to legitimately combat terrorism and radicalism in the future.
https://www.chaifm.com/podcast/2024-01-12-dr-frans-cronje-former-ceo-of-the-south-african-institute-of-race-relations-irr-discussing-his-thoughts-on-the-icj-application-by-the-south-africa-government/
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I surely hope that their move in the U.N. fails.
Me as well. However, I doubt it.
Ironically, if SA “wins” it will further degrade the UN/ICG.
The electricity and law and order problems are probably the worst. Corruption is at the root there of course: it is USUALLY the cause of poverty worldwide.
The ANC is utterly broken.
As I often say here: institutions change. Time magazine, PBS, BBC, Pan Am – all USED to be great. Now they are variously sad jokes, or gone.
One problem in Sth Africa (and I am NO expert at all) is that the second party seems to be utterly bonkers Marxists: they’re the whole “Kill The Boer” chanters and actively want to repeat Mugabe’s economic policies that wrecked Zimbabwe.
D.A.
NYC (Florida for now 🙂
Hey David,
Yes, the ANC is indeed “utterly broken”. Agree with you re: the demise of PBS, BBC, Pan Am etc. These will probably die off unless subject to radical reform from within and without.
It’s unclear whether the analogy with the ANC holds; the ANC’s original mission was to secure liberation from apartheid, which it successfully achieved. However, the ANC, an activist organization with fragmented factions, was never well-equipped for governance. Add to this (as you say) incomprehensible levels of corruption, collusion, inefficiency and incompetence.
Regarding the second party, if you are referring to the EFF (the Economic Freedom Fighters) founded and led by Julius Malema, formerly of the African National Congress Youth League – yes, he’s rotten to the core. At a rally in 2023, he sang (called for) the killing of the Boer (white farmer). It’s a common refrain coming from him.
In a country that claims to value ‘racial parity,’ his comments are conveniently disregarded, with no sense of accountability. And yes, the EFF is marxist.
The “real” opposition party to the ANC is the DA (The Democratic Alliance), the DA governs the Western Cape, arguably, the best governed province in South Africa. Still, the probability of the DA winning the popular vote in 2024 is low. Rural South Africans are still (very much) in an ‘apartheid’ mindset.
Stay in Florida! 🙂
Very moving. What a wonderful father and daughter. I hope she can recover from this horrible trauma and be happy again.
Growing up in Melbourne, Australia there were LOTS of Sth Africans at my synagogue (I had a brief religious phase as a teen, soon cured). This was the 1980s. A good life lesson to learn is when the Jews start leaving a country, it is probably a good time to go.
The then Apartheid gvt made it very difficult to leave: my friends sent on their fridge ahead of themselves to Australia with some krugerrands hidden inside as the max people could take out was very small.
There are (were) a lot of Jews in Sth Africa, apparently, many emigrated there after the war from E. Europe. Some went to Zimbabwe also. I imagine there aren’t many left now.
D.A.
NYC/Florida
+1
Saddening.