Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., appeared Monday on Newsmax to describe some of the horrific images he witnessed in Israel on a fact-finding mission in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks that killed 1,400 people.
"The atrocities committed by Hamas are simply difficult to describe," he said on "National Report." "It was so incredibly horrific."
Hamas specifically targeted civilians, women, children, and infants, and slaughtered them in an intentional way, he said.
A former U.S. Navy SEAL and combat medic, Van Orden said in all his multiple combat tours on several different continents, he has never seen anything as bad as what he saw in Israel.
He said Hamas was told to dismember bodies while they were alive. "In some cases, they threw living babies into ovens as they gang-raped their mothers. After murdering their fathers. I spoke to the people that picked up these decapitated infants."
He said the story "has to be told again and again because some people are denying that it took place. Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel marches have taken place across the country and around the world. Posters with pictures of the more than 200 hostages still trapped in Gaza have been torn down.
"And they're rallying on college campuses in support of Hamas, which is a terrorist organization. It's nearly unforgivable," Van Orden added.
The Biden Administration and the Democrat Party writ large need to come out and condemn Hamas most forcefully, he told Newsmax.
"Condemn all of these protests that are taking place. And they need to put their money where their mouth is," he said. "There's no reason any public university should receive a single dime of taxpayers' dollars when they're allowing these pro-genocide protests to take place.
"The time to tell the truth is now and the time to tell it forcefully is now."
Van Orden said his colleagues in the House are doing an outstanding job of getting the appropriate aid for Israel without adding to the debt.
"We are offsetting all of these dollars, which means the package going to Israel will be paid for, it won't add additionally to our debt, which is, of course, out of control," he said.
Newly installed U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Sunday he expects floor action this week to advance a funding bill to support Israel exclusively, even though President Joe Biden is pushing for a $106 billion aid package for Israel and Ukraine combined.
"We cannot allow the state of Israel and the Jewish people to be eradicated," Van Orden concluded.
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Peter Malbin ✉
Peter Malbin, a Newsmax writer, covers news and politics. He has 30 years of news experience, including for the New York Times, New York Post and Newsweek.com.
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