'It doesn't exist you idiots' - Irish man Thomas Hand rubbishes Israel apartheid claims

Irish man Thomas Hand has rubbished claims Israel is committing apartheid in Palestine. 

Hand, whose daughter Emily was taken captive by Hamas in the October 7 attacks and held for 50 days, spoke about the apartheid accusations on Piers Morgan Uncensored yesterday (January 15). 

According to Amnesty International, the term 'apartheid' was "originally used to refer to a political system in South Africa which explicitly enforced racial segregation, and the domination and oppression of one racial group by another".

However, it has since been used by the international community. 

When asked whether he thought Israel's response to the October 7 attacks was "disproportionate" given the number of civilian deaths, Hand, who appeared emotional, said, "They don't know a thing. We're living it. Okay? We have been living it every day for twenty years. You have no idea. You have no right to even speak to me. 

"Have you been to Israel? Ever? Has any one of you saying it's disproportionate come to see 'apartheid' in this country? It doesn't exist you idiots." 

Hand's comments come as South Africa formally accuses Israel of apartheid. 

According to Hand, who is originally from Dun Laoghaire, the addition of Hebrew, Arabic and English on street signs and buses is evidence Israel is not engaging in apartheid, stating "the country wouldn't go to that much trouble". 

He said, "If it were apartheid, you wouldn't do that, you wouldn't waste your money for crying out loud." 

He invited Israel's critics to come to the country and visit hospitals, schools and cities, where they will find "Arabs, women, female Arabs, professors in hospitals, everywhere". 

"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

He said, "You're talking out of your bottoms. You have no idea, you have no idea. And you're all chanting from the river to the sea, you don't know what river. 

"You don't know your history, you don't know your geography, because they're saying from the river to the sea. If you have any idea of geography you could work out where this little country is and go 'It's the mediterranean sea' but they don't know that.

"Educated Harvard University students, I'm sorry, cut out the Harvard bit, educated Harvard, educated University students and they don't even know what river or what sea borders Israel. 

"They're probably very educated in their specific subject but they don't know anything else around them." 

The video of the exchange, which was posted on Piers Morgan Uncensored's X (formerly Twitter) page yesterday evening, has since amassed over 3 million views and thousands of comments. 

One commenter stated: "Thankfully she is safe unlike the 12000 children murdered by Israel. Will you make interview with relatives of those murdered children?" 

Another wrote: "I genuinely feel bad about this, and no one should go through such horror. But until you interview people from Westbank who have been through 10 times more horror than this for 56 years, you are a hypocrite!" 

In an interview in November 2023, during which Hand believed his daughter was dead, he said, "They just said 'We found Emily, she's dead' and I went 'Yes!', I went 'Yes!' because that is the best news of the possibilities that I knew. She was either dead or in Gaza, and if you know anything about what they do to people in Gaza, that is worse than death. That is worse than death."