Michael Douglas visits with hostage families, tours massacre sites

Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas is in Israel, where he has visited the sites of the massacre of 1,200 and the kidnapping of 240 people by Hamas on October 7.

At the field where the Nova music festival was held, which has become a memorial to the over 360 people killed there, he recorded a video, which he posted to Instagram, with this message: “A peaceful Sunday to all of you! I’m in Israel at the Nova Festival Memorial, which stands for the massacre that first started this terrible war. I think over 300 people were massacred here, over 1,000 on the 40-mile stretch that the terrorists came in. I know there are two sides to every conflict, and I respect that, but I hope this war can end quickly and save us from hating each other for the rest of our lives. I want to wish everybody peace!”

Douglas visits Kibbutz Be'eri

Douglas, who is Hollywood royalty by his father, the late star Kirk Douglas, also went to see the ruins of Kibbutz Be’eri, where 130 people were killed and almost 30 taken hostage. He was accompanied by Yedioth Aharonoth journalist Raz Shechnik, who posted a photo of Douglas at Kibbutz Be’eri, with the caption, “How do we conquer the inclination for revenge?”

Douglas also met with Yuli Ben Ami, one of the children of released hostage Raz Ben Ami, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri. She showed Douglas video footage taken by the terrorists of her mother’s abduction that was broadcast on the Hamas Telegram channel. Yuli’s father, Ohad Ben Ami, who was kidnapped along with her mother, is still being held by Hamas.

He posed for a photograph with several relatives of those who were kidnapped in Gaza: Meirav Gonen, the mother of Romi Gonen; Shelly and Malachi Shem Tov, the parents of Omer Shem Tov; Dr. Ayelet Levy Shachar, the mother of Naama Levy; and Hagit and Ruby Chen, the parents of US citizen Itay Chen, who learned in March that their son had been murdered.

Douglas meets President Herzog in Israel

On Sunday, Douglas met President Isaac Herzog, who gave him a dog-tag necklace and a yellow-wishbone pin, which are worn around by supporters around the world to raise awareness of the over 100 hostages still held by Hamas.

“It’s a very difficult time. You sense the deep shock of this whole experience,” Douglas said, and criticized US campus protests against Israel, saying that the protesters have undergone “brainwashing. There is no education when you try to talk to many of them. There’s no knowledge.

Douglas joins a long line of celebrities who have decided to see the site of the massacre for themselves and to offer comfort to the families of those still being held. Jerry Seinfeld, who visited recently, told Bari Weiss of the Free Press on her Honestly podcast that being in Israel during the war was “the most powerful experience” of his life.

Others who have come to Israel to express their solidarity included actors, influencers, and athletes, such as Debra Messing, Michael Rapaport, Brett Gelman, Kevin Von Erich, Nathaniel Buzolic, Baby Ariel, Montana Tucker, and Julia Haart. Rapaport and Gelman even joined the cast of Israel’s most popular comedy show, Eretz Nehederet, to lampoon woke Hamas supporters abroad.