Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaking out Sunday about the news that the body of an Israeli-American, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was found with the bodies of five other Israeli hostages in Gaza, said he is "heartbroken, devastated, mad" and called on the Biden administration to hold Iran accountable.
"He was murdered by Hamas," the South Carolina Republican told ABC News' "This Week," adding that Goldberg-Polin's parents had done "everything in their power to help their son be released from captivity."
"Hamas could care less about the hostages or the Palestinians," Graham said.
The hostages, identified as Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sgt. Ori Danino were "brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them," Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Sunday.
Graham told ABC News that the "cost to Iran" must be increased if the remainder of the hostages seized last Oct. 7 are to ever return home.
"Iran is the great Satan here," the senator said. "Hamas is the junior partner. They're barbaric, religious Nazis, Hamas; but they could care less about the Palestinian people. I would urge the Biden administration and Israel to hold Iran accountable for the fate of remaining hostages, and put on the target list or refineries in Iran if the hostages are not released."
He further urged Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "tell the Ayatollah [Ali Khamenei] what he values is on the target list. Until that happens, nobody is coming home."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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