Former Congresswoman Revisits Site of Hamas Atrocities Where She Lived Nearly 50 Years Ago

KIBBUTZ BE'ERI, Israel – Kibbutz Be'eri was one of the hardest-hit locations in the Hamas attacks near Gaza on October 7th. It also personally touched the life of Michele Bachmann, former congresswoman and current dean of the Regent University School of Government. She was once a resident of the kibbutz.

CBN News accompanied Bachmann as she recently surveyed the site of horrendous massacres, kidnappings and destruction, and we talked to those who survived the mayhem.

As Hamas invaded Kibbutz Be'eri, Lotan Pinyah, a resident, watched the attack unfold when he visited the kibbutz website and a WhatsApp group that October morning.

"People started to say, to write, 'There are terrorists inside the kibbutz,'" Pinyan related. He added, "And you start to see on the kibbutz map that they're here, here, here, here, here – they're spread all over the kibbutz."

A short time after, Pinyan learned terrorists slaughtered his mother and father-in-law, and he would see the death and destruction all over the neighborhood.

"We have 90 murders," he said, and within in the kibbutz, "289 houses are either burned or severel'ery damaged."

All of this weighed on former Congresswoman Bachmann because she had lived here in 1974.

"I came here the day after I graduated from high school," she recalled. "Never been to Israel.  It was my first time to come to Israel.  And I lived and worked here at Kibbutz Be'eri."

Bachmann told CBN News, "I remember it was a happy home where twelve hundred people lived.  And people wouldn't believe this (scene today). There's whole roofs missing, and RPGs were fired through the sides of houses  No one could ever live in these homes again. They're completely totaled.  And so they'll all have to come down, all have to be destroyed." 

On this tour of Be'eri, she also learned that people she knew were among those raped and murdered.

 "Horrible.  I just was devastated,." she said.

She continued, "And it's incredible to think that human beings would come and do this kind of damage just to get to Jews. The hatred for Jews is so vitriolic, they would even burn a house down so they could watch a Jew jump out of a window so that they could shoot them. And the horror is that about 80 percent of the people who were killed here were tortured. So, this is as devastating as it gets."

Pinyan told us, "My children used to play and visit here each day."

"These are people's homes, "Bachmann said in disbelief. "This isn't supposed to be a battlefield. This is where little children rode bikes and went to see their grandparents."

According to Pinyan, "All of this neighborhood was full of children that were playing football in the afternoon, because all the grandmothers and grandfathers used to live in this neighborhood. No one (is) left. Only three people."

Bachmann noted, "It's the bodies, it's the people. The life that's gone. And that's irreplaceable."

Pinyan remarked that the younger generation is suffering as well. "All of our kids have friends that were either killed or kidnapped," he said.

Bachmann believes there should be no mercy for murderers who did this while promising to continue destroying such communities until there are no more Jews here – and in all of Israel – until Israel becomes Palestine.

"Well, this is Israel's land," Bachmann responded. "And Israel has every right to the land – biblically, morally, legally, from international law – 100 percent this is Israel's land. It's no question. There's not even a doubt.  And so this fantasy that different terror groups have that they're going to kill Jews – because for them, it really isn't about land, it's about killing Jews. And so, that's what we need to recognize. So why should Israel be forced to live side-by-side by clever assassins?   Because this happens everyday." 

So, the Jewish people can no longer be expected to wonder if tomorrow is another Holocaust," she stated. "Because that's what this is. You're looking at the Holocaust in our day – in our day.  And we said 'never again.'  And it happened again. And so, the only answer is that Israel doesn't have to be the people who suffer from these terrorist acts."

"Of any people group, they should not be the ones forced to live next to the people (now living in) Gaza," Bachmann insisted. There are 56 other Arab nations out there who could take in the Gazans. Not one will take them. Why should Israel – the focus of their hatred – be forced to live side-by-side? It needs to end." 

***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news on Israel's fight for survival.***