Israeli President Isaac Herzog has hit back at Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie over her condemnation of the Israel Defense Force’s (IDF) response in the Gaza Strip in the wake of Hamas’s unprecedented terror attack on the Jewish state, which killed 1,200 people and wounded 4, 500 more.
Jolie recently issued sharp criticism of the IDF as its forces target terrorists in Gaza, writing on social media that the carefully executed military operations “cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation, and not even the basic human right to cross a border to seek refuge.”
In a separate post, Jolie urged Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire after claiming that Gaza was “fast becoming a mass grave.”
“This is the deliberate bombing of a trapped population who have nowhere to flee,” the Girl Interrupted star declared: “Gaza has been an open-air prison for nearly two decades and is fast becoming a mass grave.”
“By refusing to demand a humanitarian ceasefire and blocking the UN Security Council from imposing one on both parties, world leaders are complicit in these crimes,” she added.
In an interview published Monday in the New York Post, Herzog took aim at Jolie’s posts.
“I totally reject her claims. I think she’s never been in Gaza…. to visit and see the facts on the ground. In Gaza now there is war, but there is no humanitarian crisis that does not enable them to survive,” Herzog told interviewer Piers Morgan. “Angelina Jolie does not offer the Israeli people any ability to defend themselves by saying what she’s saying. And Gaza is a jail not because of Israel. Israel pulled out of Gaza.”
The Israeli president added: “Gaza is an Iranian base filled with terror. Perhaps the outcome of this war will enable the Gazan people who deserve a decent good life to enjoy it under a different regime that will enable movement towards peace. You’ll tell me, of course, the civilians are not to blame. Fine, if the civilians are not to blame, then please enable Israel to uproot these terrorists.”
Jolie not only caught flak from Herzog, but from her own father as well: Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight. On Saturday, Voight chastised Jolie in a video posted to social media, arguing it is impossible to coexists with Hamas “animals” who seek the destruction of Jews and Christians.
Truth and lies pic.twitter.com/HkvbVWpFcD
— Jon Voight (@jonvoight) November 4, 2023
“I’m very disappointed that my daughter, like so many, has no understanding of God’s honor, God’s truths,” Voight stated.
“This is justice for God’s children of the Holy Land. Israel, the Israeli army, must protect thy soil, thy people. This is war — it’s not going to be what the left thinks — it can’t be civil now,” Voight continued. “Israel was attacked by inhuman terror on innocent babies, mothers, fathers, grandparents. And you fools [are] calling Israel the problem?”
“Israel has been attacked and the Jewish people who have suffered hardship for centuries have shown great heroism for God, love, peace; [and] survived the Holocaust and now this Hamas Holocaust,” the Coming Home star added.
The actor concluded: “The chosen one, the Messiah, shall win this war.”
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel. The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.
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