'America is definitely your ally' Hollywood star Michael Douglas tells President Herzog after visiting sites of Oct 7 massacre

Oscar-winning Hollywood star Michael Douglas visited Kibbutz Be’eri and the site of the Nova Music Festival terror attack on Sunday before traveling to Jerusalem, where he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

“We have met with families of the hostages, we spent the day today down in the south in the area close to Be’eri, and we saw the Nova exhibition,” Douglas told Herzog, according to the President’s Office.

It was “tough in Be’eri, seeing what happened,” he said.

On Oct. 7, Palestinian terrorists murdered more than 100 Israelis and took 30 hostages into the Gaza Strip, including then 9-year-old Emily Hand, who was reunited with her father after 50 days in captivity.

Surviving children of the kibbutz recounted attending 40 funerals for their friends and family members.

“It’s a very difficult time. The deep shock of this whole experience. We’re just happy to be here in support of Israel, and to share with you the fact that America is definitely your ally as our president has shared with you. I just hope that the latest negotiations will be reached, and the hostages will be back soon,” Douglas said.

On October 7, entire Israeli families were butchered in their homes in the most horrific and cruel ways.

Thank you Michael Douglas for visiting Kibbutz Be’eri and bearing witness for the victims and their families.

We will never forget. We will never stop sharing what… pic.twitter.com/9wAZRuTqD6

— Israel ישראל (@Israel) June 2, 2024

Speaking with Herzog, Douglas said that he felt a “big shock” over the anti-Israeli protests that have swept across the United States, particularly on college campuses, in the months since the surprise invasion and terror attack by the Hamas terrorist group on Israeli communities near the Gaza border.

“I think the big shock besides this attack both for Israel and the United States and North America was this Palestinian student movement, which was a shock to everybody, and it immediately made us ask the question, well what kind of brainwashing were these students involved in? Because when you try to talk to many of them, there is no education, there is no knowledge,” the Hollywood celebrity told Herzog.

Herzog thanked Douglas for showing solidarity with Israel in a post on 𝕏.

“Michael Douglas is a legend of the silver screen. What he saw today in the south of Israel however, is no movie set. It is the scene of one of the worst crimes against humanity, carried out against peace-loving people by brutal Hamas terrorists. Thank you for coming to be a witness. Thank you for standing with the Israeli people. Michal and I were honored to present you with the solidarity pin and necklace in support of the hostages who must be released immediately,” Herzog wrote.

Douglas is the son of the late Jewish actor Kirk Douglas and was the recipient of Israel’s Genesis Prize in 2015 “for his professional achievements and his passion for his Jewish heritage and the Jewish state.”

Several American-Jewish celebrities have visited the Gaza border area in solidarity with Israel since Oct. 7. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld recently said that his visit in December was “the most powerful experience of my life, I’m sure.”