Former US Ambassador to Israel: Hamas' attack most successful 'murder campaign' on Jews since the Holocaust

The former U.S. ambassador to Israel said the terrorist attack by Hamas on the Jewish state is a reaction to Israel and Saudi Arabia's budding diplomatic ties. 

David Friedman, who served as ambassador under former President Donald Trump said on "Fox & Friends" Monday morning that the nation is in shock, responding to a situation that has "never happened before." The attack, which escalated to war over the weekend, has led to the murder of at least 800 people in Israel so far. 

"We're looking at the largest assault and the most successful murder campaign of the Jewish people since the Holocaust and it's very difficult to watch," he said. "I'm in Jerusalem, I'm not in the line of fire, but I am going into shelters every hour or two."

"I'm used to this, I've been doing this for years, but I have to go explain to my grandchildren who are here visiting for the holidays, you know, that there are people in the world that wish to indiscriminately and brutally murder the Jewish people. And so, it's a hard message to deliver to a 12-year-old girl and I hoped that, you know, the Jewish people were past this point in history, but regrettably not."

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A plume of smoke rises in the sky of Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on October 9, 2023. Israel relentlessly pounded the Gaza Strip overnight and into October 9 as fighting with Hamas continued around the Gaza Strip, as the death toll from the war against the Palestinian militants surged above 1,100.  (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Friedman said a similar terrorist attack didn't happen when he was an ambassador under former President Donald Trump because of how clear the administration's policies were in the event of an attack on Israel by any terrorist group. 

"There would be no limitations placed on the state of Israel with regard to how it chose to defend itself by itself, for itself," he said. "I think that message resonated loud and clear within Israel's enemies."

Friedman said the attack by the Hamas terrorist group was "carefully planned" by Iran which "approved every aspect of this operation." 

"Hamas would have not succeeded were it not for Iran's help," he explained. "So you have to ask yourself, why is the United States appeasing Iran while literally at the same time, at the very same time that America is agreeing with Iran to exchange hostages at a price of $6 billion in cash, at the very same time, Iran is plotting with Hamas to annihilate the Jewish people."

"Why is Iran doing this? They want to scuttle the progress being made between Israel and Saudi Arabia, that's their biggest fear," he added. "And unfortunately, at least for the time being, they've succeeded because with this massive war going on, it's going to be difficult for either Israel or Saudi Arabia to focus on more productive ventures."

At least nine Americans are among those murdered in Israel, as well as many that are unaccounted for, according to the U.S. State Department. The U.S. does not currently have an ambassador to Israel under the Biden administration. 

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Smoke rises from an area near a power plant outside Ashkelon, Israel, on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip infiltrated Saturday into southern Israel and fired thousands of rockets into the country while Israel began striking targets in Gaza in response. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) (AP Photo)

"I just got off the phone a half an hour ago with a father of an American boy who had attended a music festival in southern Israel and his son is missing," Friedman said. "He has no idea whether he was killed, whether he was captured, whether he's held hostage, whether he's wounded, because so many wounded people came into the hospital without any I.D."

Friedman warned that this was an attack on Americans, as well as Israelis, as many Jewish Americans were visiting to celebrate the Jewish holidays. 

"This poor American father and mother are going through hell right now and there's a lot more of them out there," he said. "I think we'll find out more than nine Americans are among those who are either wounded or held hostage."

"This was an assault on Americans too, let's not forget that I mean, there were hundreds of thousands of Americans in Israel celebrating the Jewish holidays," he added. "Unfortunately … many of them won't be coming home and we have to help those families."

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Palestinians inspect the rubble of the West mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023.  (AP/Adel Hana)

Israeli civilians along the country’s northern border, close to Lebanon, have expressed concern that the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah could get involved in the conflict, but Friedman said he doesn't think Hezbollah has anything to gain by doing so. 

"I hope I'm right and I could easily be wrong, but I don't think Hezbollah is going to come in and I'll tell you why, because all of these are proxies for Iran, and Iran has achieved all it wanted to achieve in the cheapest possible way … by prompting and supporting Hamas," Friedman said. 

He said Iran has achieved what they wanted, to scuttle the diplomatic progress between Israel, America and Saudi Arabia, without putting Hezbollah's assets at risk for this. 

"I don't know what they have to gain and I think Israel, given the pressure it's under, will just respond by flattening Lebanon," he said. 

"They don't have time, you know, to go have land wars on two fronts and don't underestimate the power of the IDF," he added. "I don't think it makes sense for Hezbollah to come in, but it's not like there's a whole lot of logic that's governing people's actions right now."

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Kendall Tietz is a Production Assistant with Fox News Digital.