Hand family: Those who claim Israel is an apartheid state are 'idiots'

Emily Hand, the 9-year-old who was kidnapped by Hamas and released from captivity, along with her father Tom, were interviewed on Tuesday night by the popular British journalist Piers Morgan.

The father, Tom, talked about his daughter's recovery while marveling at the resilience of children.

According to Tom, Emily's volume of speech has returned to normal, she eats "like a horse" and sleeps well, although there are times when she experiences nightmares, and if he sees her in the middle of one, he makes sure to wake her up.

Hand described the moment when he was told his daughter was kidnapped to Gaza, and not dead, as "being punched in the stomach by a professional boxer."

"You're all chanting 'From The River To The Sea' - you don't know what river!"

Thomas Hand, whose daughter was held captive by Hamas for 50 days, reacts passionately to those who say Israel's response has been disproportionate.@piersmorgan | @TalkTV | #PMU pic.twitter.com/UI3WNfClN7

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) January 15, 2024

And after her release, he described the moment when he told her that her stepmother had been murdered; how she sobbed and withdrew into herself under the blanket, and wouldn't let her father comfort her.

When asked what he thinks about those who claim that Israel's response is disproportionate, Tom replied that these are people who know nothing, and wondered if they had ever visited Israel. "We've been living this for 20 years," he said in an interview, calling those who claim Israel is an apartheid state "idiots" and inviting them to take note of which languages appear on the road signs [Hebrew, Arabic, English]. He quipped: "You all chant, 'From the river to the sea.' You have no idea which river."

Throughout the 40-minute interview, Emily could be seen sitting next to her father, but at no point did she directly answer the interviewer’s questions. Occasionally, she was seen whispering to Tom, but it was not possible to understand what she was saying to him. There were times when she wiped her father’s tears.

During the course of the interview, the two were informed of a Hamas announcement that hostages Yossi Sharabi and Itai Svirsky were killed in the Gaza Strip. Tom seemed to be trying to hold back tears as he heard what had happened to the two men kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri – the place from which his daughter Emily was also kidnapped. Tom also said that Itai had stayed with Emily the entire time she was in captivity and that he "took comfort" in the fact that Noa was still alive.