Members of Congress To View October 7 Hamas Attack Footage Tuesday
One congressman who spent nearly three decades as an active duty Navy SEAL and recently returned from a visit to southern Israel wants his colleagues to ‘think about their priorities.’
On Tuesday morning, members of Congress will view footage from the October 7 attack on southern Israel, which includes images and videos of murdered women, concertgoers, and the elderly. A congressman who recently returned from a tour of the attack site says his fellow House members need strong stomachs to see the footage.
“I have multiple combat tours as a Navy SEAL on several different continents,” Congressman Derrick Van Orden tells the Sun. “What I was exposed to in Israel put me on my heels. And I wasn’t just a SEAL, I was a battlefield medic. The savagery from these beasts — from Hamas — that intentionally inflicted on the Israeli people is something I have difficulty explaining.”
The footage, which was previously shown to the international press corps by the IDF in Israel, includes images of Hamas terrorists invading small communities near Gaza to murder civilians. Mr. Van Orden says he hopes that what his colleagues see will move them to action and end calls for ceasefire.
“I hope everyone goes and it stiffens their spine to realize what they are dealing with,” the Wisconsin freshman tells the Sun.
Rhetorically, Congress has offered overwhelming support to Israel since the October 7 attack and during the ensuing conflict. Calls for a ceasefire, however, have grown in recent days. Just in the last week, Senator Durbin, has called for a ceasefire between the Jewish state and Hamas. Some of his Senate colleagues, including Senator Murphy and Senator Van Hollen, have said they want Israel to offer longer humanitarian pauses in Gaza.
In the House, there are 24 members so far who are supporting a ceasefire.
Mr. Van Orden says those who demand a ceasefire “need to think about their priorities” and show up on Tuesday morning to see video of the violence for themselves.
Congress has so far been able to pass an aid package for Israel. The House did adopt more than $14 billion in funding for weapons and ammunition to be sent to the Jewish state, but the Senate has so far refused to take up the legislation because Speaker Johnson decided to include an offset funding cut to the Internal Revenue Service. Democrats and the Congressional Budget Office point out that the offset would add billions to the national debt over the next decade due to cuts to the criminal tax enforcement division.
