Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner tour ravaged Kibbutz Kfar Aza, meet survivors of Oct. 7
On visit to border community where Hamas murdered over 60, abducted 20, couple views footage of atrocities, presents medallion to female Border Police soldiers who fought terrorists
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner visited the Gaza border community of Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Thursday for a tour led by Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, during a short wartime visit to Israel.
The couple — the daughter and son-in-law of former US president Donald Trump, who served as his senior advisers — met with survivors of the deadly October 7 Hamas onslaught Shahar Snorman, his wife Ayelet Cohen, and Maor Moravia, and heard their stories about what they had endured and the people they lost that day.
“We must defeat Hamas so that our children can return to play here on the grass,” Moravia was reported to have told the couple.
Another resident of the kibbutz, Chen Kotler, gave Ivanka a dog tag inscribed with “Kfar Aza is home.”
They were also shown the 47-minute compilation of footage from the attacks, which includes harrowing scenes of murder, torture and decapitation from the slaughter in southern Israel, including raw videos from the terrorists’ bodycams.
The two also met with representatives from the IDF, the Ynet news site reported, as well as with female Border Police officers who fought terrorists along the Gaza border on October 7.
Kushner thanked the soldiers for their life-saving actions and told them that he was “humbled to be by your side and to hear about your acts of heroism. What you did had a huge impact.”
The couple also met volunteers from the ZAKA rescue service who are tasked with handling human remains after terror attacks and other disasters and who have been working tirelessly since the Hamas massacres.
At the end of their visit, they presented the first responders and soldiers with commemorative medallions for their life-saving actions.
The two are expected to meet with President Isaac Herzog later on Thursday evening before returning to the United States.
Kibbutz Kfar Aza was heavily impacted by the October 7 massacres, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists attacked more than 20 communities in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing around 240 hostages.
Out of Kfar’s Aza’s 750 residents, over 60 people were killed and around 20 were taken hostage. Much of the kibbutz was destroyed by fires started by terrorists trying to lure people out into the open.
The visit to the kibbutz by Trump’s daughter and son-in-law comes on the heels of visits made to ravaged Gaza border communities by several other celebrities and public figures in recent days.
On Wednesday, prominent American evangelical Christian Mike Huckabee paid a visit to Kfar Aza and on Tuesday, Jewish American comedian Jerry Seinfeld visited Kibbutz Be’eri. Comedian and actor Michael Rapaport has also visited the Gaza border in recent days, as had Debra Messing.
