Since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, two Republican House members have taken unsanctioned trips to America’s ally in the Middle East to learn more about the war, see the destruction with their own eyes, and help rescue those who are trapped there.
First was freshman Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL), who traveled to Israel in mid-October, right after the invasion, with one goal in mind: to rescue Americans in the country with no way to get home.
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“I knew that it was time to take action,” Mills told reporters at a press conference. “The time for talk is over. The time for action is now, and on Oct. 11, I went into [Israel] and started conducting ground evacuations.”
Mills, who served in the Army, was able to rescue 32 Americans on the first day and 45 on the second day, he said.
Mills said he was able to do this by “going through areas of the West Bank, through Jerusalem, Tiberius, Haifa, Nazareth, and other areas, doing consolidations and making continual efforts to try and pull Americans out who would have been trapped, stranded, or left behind by the Biden administration.”
But after he left, his work didn’t stop there. Back in the United States, he was able to negotiate a plane to get 159 more Americans out of Israel in late October.
“We must not forget about those who are still stranded, however, including the innocent hostages that Hamas, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization, still has in their control,” Mills said.
Mills is not the only member to go to Israel. Also in mid-October, freshman Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), a former Navy SEAL, went to Israel on what he described as a “fact-finding” mission.
Van Orden described the scenes he witnessed and the destruction Hamas left in its path. He said what he saw in Israel was “the most horrific” thing he had ever experienced in his life and that even his multiple combat tours couldn’t compare.
“I have cups in my office that I asked if I can take back that I literally pulled out of the bloody dust from that rave where children were executed. I have them in my office,” he said. “The dust is still on those cups. This is horrific.”
The Wisconsin Republican said he talked to the residents of the towns he visited who “literally picked up decapitated children” and people who described to him that they found “an infant in a crib that was snapped so many times you couldn’t recognize it as a human being” and “women who were brutally gang raped to the point where they’re fracturing their pelvises and spines.”
“It was terrible. It was shocking,” he said.
On Nov. 7, exactly one month after the invasion, House Republican leaders brought some of the families whose loved ones had been taken hostage by Hamas to share their stories.
Doris Liber’s son, Guy Iluz, was taken hostage by Hamas while attending the Nova music festival in Israel. This was one of the first places where Hamas invaded and slaughtered hundreds of Israelis.
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Iluz was shot by Hamas while at the festival and called his parents during the invasion, Liber said. While on the phone, his father told him to crawl under dead bodies so that Hamas wouldn’t know he was alive. But the terrorist organization took him hostage, and they haven’t seen him in over 30 days.
“It’s been 30 days. Every day is like eternity to me,” Liber said.
