Pro-Israel actor says Israel-Hamas war is fight for Holy Land, denounces Hamas atrocities and calls pro-Palestinian activists ‘fools’
File: Actor Jon Voight (right) visits Jewish settlements in the West Bank with Samaria Regional Council chair Yossi Dagan, on February 16, 2022. (Samaria Regional Council)
Veteran Hollywood actor Jon Voight, father of Angelina Jolie, on Saturday expressed disappointment at his daughter’s recent condemnation of Israel’s offensive against the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
In an Instagram post on November 2 that has almost 4 million likes, Jolie slammed the campaign in Gaza as “the deliberate bombing of a trapped population” and “murder,” charging that world leaders were complicit in the crimes by blocking UN Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire.
Voight, a conservative who has made strong pro-Israel statements in the past, repeatedly stressed the religious aspect of the war, labeling it as a fight for the “justice of God’s children in the Holy Land,” in a video posted to X.
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“I’m very disappointed in my daughter, like so many,” Voight said, adding that she did not understand the conflict was about the destruction of the Holy Land — “the Land of the Jews.”
Voight denounced the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas as “inhuman terror on innocent babies, mothers, fathers, grandparents,” and slammed pro-Palestinian activists: “You fools call Israel the problem.”
He also held Hamas responsible for the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, highlighting its abuse of international aid and use of human shields.
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“They’ve been given huge infusions of money, that they didn’t share with the people. They made weapons instead, for their rage,” Voight said, adding that Gazans “are prisoners of the barbaric country that use them as shields.”
“Hamas and this deceit of their ruling is destroying their own people,” he added.
He also hailed the “great heroism” of Jewish people in the face of a series of tragedies throughout history, from the Holocaust to the recent “Hamas Holocaust.”
In her Instagram post, Jolie shared a photo of a recent Israeli strike in the Strip’s north, saying: “Gaza has been an open-air prison for nearly two decades and is fast becoming a mass grave. 40% of those killed are innocent children. Whole families are being murdered.”
She added: “By refusing to demand a humanitarian ceasefire and blocking the UN Security Council from imposing one on both parties, world leaders are complicit in these crimes.”
Last year, Voight visited Israel and toured settlements in the West Bank, where he met Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council.
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Dagan presented Voight with a bottle of wine from the Har Bracha winery and told him that it was “a great honor to host an important actor like you and more importantly a friend of Israel.”
According to a statement from the council, Voight said at the time: “I don’t understand why Judea and Samaria is called the West Bank, when it’s clear that if you look at a map Samaria is at the heart of the Land of Israel.”
During the 2014 war against Hamas, Voight penned an article in The Hollywood Reporter that slammed “obviously ignorant” actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz for attacking Israel.
Israel declared war with the aim of eradicating Hamas following the terror group’s devastating October 7 onslaught, in which some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were brutally murdered in their homes and at a music festival, and over 240 more were abducted, including some 30 babies and children.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
