CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State leaders continue to express their sadness over the recent attacks from Hamas on Israel where more than a thousand civilians, including children, are dead, and hundreds of others have become hostages.
Rabbi Joshua Lief of Temple Shalom in Wheeling said the terrorist organization got their message across with a surprise attack that began Saturday.
“This was the most successful attack that Hamas has launched from the Gaza strip,” Lief said on MetroNews “Talkline” Tuesday.
Lief believes there will be a “horrific humanitarian crisis.” Furthermore, Hamas will stop at nothing until Israel is erased off the map.
“The loss of life, of civilian life, is going to be extreme,” Lief said. “I’m quite worried and I think all of us watching are going to see horrific death and destruction.”
Moving forward, Lief said the relationship with the U.S. and Israel, who have been allies for many years, must remain strong.
“Israel has been the only open Western-style democracy in the region with free and fair elections, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion,” said Lief.
It’s clear to Lief that Hamas doesn’t want there to be peace between the Israelites and Palestinians.
Kanawha County Delegate and West Virginia Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin said Hamas has a clear goal of destroying Israel and these attacks have had a massive effect on the entire world.
“It’s affected all of us deeply, not just Jewish-Americans, but all Americans,” Pushkin said.
More than 2,000 rockets were fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip into Israel Saturday morning.
Of the targeted areas, Pushkin, who’s Jewish, noted specifically the desert music festival in southern Israel, where nearly 300 people were discovered dead.
“Young people having a good time, listening to music, woke up that morning to the sound of gunfire and being gunned down in their tents,” said Pushkin, who was a guest on “580 Live” on WCHS in Charleston Tuesday.
A large portion of the deaths came from the music festival. Pushkin said he was recently at a music festival himself in Greenbrier County and that he attends festivals regularly. The story coming out of Israel hit harder for him.
“People were just going out and having a good time. It’s awful,” he said.
Hamas, a Palestinian militant organization, controls Gaza. Saturday’s events occurred on the Jewish Sabbath and coincided with the religious holiday of Simchat Torah.