Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett shares atrocities of Hamas attacks, thanks Liberty students for support

Israel’s 13th Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, exhorted the students at Liberty University’s Convocation on Friday to stand up and support Israel and America as the younger generation.

Bennett, who served as prime minister from 2021-22, also previously served in combat operations on the front lines as a special force soldier, a military commander, and as minister of multiple branches of government in Israel. After an introduction by Liberty University President Dr. Dondi E. Costin, Bennett began his message by thanking the students for their continued prayers and support for Israel.

“I know since Oct. 7, every one of you have been sending prayers to the nation of Israel and to the fighters. Thank you very much. On behalf of the Israeli people, we love you.”

Bennett set a scene of the massive tragedies of Oct. 7, 2023, when 1,200 Israelis were brutally murdered and 250 Israelis were kidnapped from their homes, with 101 of those kidnapped still being held in underground dungeons by Hamas.

“The modern State of Israel was founded so Jews would no longer be under an ongoing massacre. The institutions of Israel that day (Oct. 7) collapsed — the government, the military. But that’s half the story. The second half of the story is that on that day, Oct. 7, the people of Israel — especially the younger men and women — they rose.”

Bennett told multiple stories of young men and women who spent hours rescuing civilians and bringing them to safety under no commands to do so, including a man named Elhanan Kalmanson and his brother and nephew, who for 16 hours went from home to home evacuating families to safety.

“These guys — under no soldiers, under no commands, under no edict, no one told them (they) have to go — they rescued 100 lives.”

Kalmanson was shot and killed as he rescued these people, leaving behind five children.

Bennett told another story of a 21-year-old woman who was a tank commander who took her all-female tank command to the border and defended a breach in the fence where terrorists were coming in. Her command fought for five hours against roughly 80 terrorists with RPGs and grenades. The efforts of that commander and her soldiers blocked the breach and saved two communities.

These are only a couple of the gut-wrenching stories Bennett told to paint a picture of not only the brutality Israelis endured, but the ways their generation of young men and women are standing up to fight against it.

“The institutions of Israel failed on that day. But the younger generation proved that it’s a generation of lions,” he said. “It surprised all of us. I knew the younger generation in Israel as tech savvy, smart, intelligent. We and everyone thought they were soft. We wrote them off as the TikTok generation. And it turns out that under our noses, this younger generation is Israel’s finest generation ever.”

Bennett explained why he’s so optimistic about Israel by comparing the conflict to World War II, when millions of Americans fought with the values of patriotism and freedom.

“When you’re fighting, it’s all about being together. These (Americans) came back in 1945, and they carried the great nation of the United States of America forward to the biggest growth in the global history of any nation,” he said. “And now our younger generation (in Israel) is being forged in battle the same way. They’re coming back.”

Bennett said that while Israel is repelling attacks from seven different fronts, they are going to win the war. He emphasized, however, that a second war happened on Oct. 7 — a spiritual war.

“They realized that this tiny nation, less than 10 million people, cannot be defeated in battle and even in terror,” he said. “So, they’ve bypassed all of that, and they want to confuse our minds and our hearts, (as well as) the hearts and minds of the world, and say that good is bad, that right is wrong.”

Bennett said it can be discouraging to experience the barrage of lies from the enemy, and he spent the remainder of his time giving facts about the ongoing war, emphasizing that Jews are the indigenous people of Israel who were granted the nation 3,800 years ago by God. He urged the students to know the facts against the lies, and he addressed the lie of genocide.

“Genocide is the deliberate action to kill a group of people, a nation. Israel never, not once in its history, went out to deliberately kill (a people group). Israel’s army is called the Israel Defense Forces. We are not looking to enlarge Israel. But our enemies, the jihadists, their explicit aspiration is to annihilate the Jewish people.”

He explained why the connection between Israel and America is so important, down to the individual students who sat in the seats while he spoke.

“With these facts, I would call and ask every one of you to fight,” Bennett said. “Because what is the ultimate goal of Islamic jihad? It’s to ‘islamicize’ the entire world. America is considered the big Satan in their rhetoric, in their plans, in their vision. Israel is the small Satan.”

“This jihadist ideology is set to destroy the free civilization,” he added, noting that he was in New York when America was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. “They view all of us as enemies, and their core is in the Middle East. But if you let them be, if you don’t fight them in the Middle East, they (will) come to America. … If we don’t fight them, you will see them reach your shores.”

Bennett clarified he is not asking America to literally fight or send soldiers, and that Israel is more than up for the job to defend their country, but he is asking for America — and the bold, younger generation at Liberty — to stand with them as they continue to repel the Islamic forces.

“On Oct. 8, here at Liberty University and across the world, students of Liberty University came (in prayer) and said, ‘We are here for you,’” he said. “Every one of you … we’re fighting together. We are fighting the same war, and your prayers matter. Your love matters. Your speaking up matters.”