Blaze Media employee's husband still stuck in Israel as US government finally announces plan to help evacuate stranded Americans



As Israel wages war in response to heinous Hamas terror attacks that left many dead, some American citizens, including Blaze Media employee Ashton DeGroot's husband and brother-in-law, have been stuck in the Jewish state.

But on Thursday, the U.S. government finally announced plans to help facilitate the evacuation of people stranded in Israel.

DeGroot provided TheBlaze with a copy of a State Department email that her husband received regarding the plans.

"We are writing to update you on U.S. government assistance to depart Israel. We plan to offer transit options beginning on Friday, October 13, but it will take some period of time to schedule everyone seeking to depart. If you choose to take this departure assistance, transportation will be by air to Athens or Frankfurt, or sea from Haifa to Cyprus. You will not be able to choose your destination – we will assign you to the next available flight or ship," the email reads.

"You will be asked to sign an agreement to repay the U.S. government prior to departure. You should be prepared to arrange your own lodging and onward travel from Greece, Germany or Cyprus to your final destination," the email states.

NSC coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said during a press briefing on Thursday that it is known that 27 Americans have been killed and 14 are unaccounted for.

"Starting Friday, October 13, the U.S. government will arrange charter flights to assist U.S. citizens and their immediate family members who have been unable to book commercial transit and seek a safe means of departing Israel. From these locations, individuals will be able to make their own onward travel arrangements to the destination of their choice. These initial transportation options will be augmented in the coming days," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

But even before the government's announcement, people had already been filling the vacuum by helping Americans evacuate.

Save Our Allies, a group that was founded during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, has been helping evacuate Americans from Israel, the group's president and founder Tim Kennedy, who is currently a master sergeant with the U.S. Army Special Forces, told TheBlaze.

Kennedy said that in addition to evacuating people from Israel, Save Our Allies is also working to fly medical supplies into the country.

"Hamas is evil," Kennedy said. "Hamas wants all Jews dead."

Hamas has committed atrocities. "Hamas terrorists bound, burned, and executed children," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. Netanyahu has also said that there were kidnappings, including of children, that families were "wiped out in their beds" and that women were "brutally raped" and killed.

Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida has also been helping evacuate people out of Israel.

"If Biden and his administration won't prioritize American lives then I will step up and do his job for him! 77 Americans in 2 days safe and no longer trapped in Israel while Biden thinks of a plan," Mills tweeted. "This is the second country (Afghanistan 2021 & Israel 2023) we've had to save Americans because Biden had no plan and No leadership! This never happened under President Trump!"

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Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle had been pressuring the government to take action to help get Americans out of Israel.

"Since Hamas' indiscriminate attack on Israel Saturday morning, our offices have received harrowing reports from constituents who remain in Israel and are seeking to return to the United States as soon as possible," read an October 10 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that was signed by a bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers. They called for "the State Department to use all resources at its disposal, including charter flights, to help those Americans that remain in Israel and wish to return to the United States."

Israel at War - Day 5 update www.youtube.com

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Blaze Media's own Ashton DeGroot says her husband and brother-in-law are stranded in Israel



As Israel is at war due to Hamas' brutal attacks that have killed many, including children, TheBlaze's own Ashton DeGroot says that her husband and brother-in-law are among the American citizens currently stranded in Israel.

"He's already experienced rockets exploding overhead on multiple occasions," DeGroot said in a video posted on social media, adding that "we still have no answers as to when he can return home to me and our children."

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DeGroot, who has three children, told TheBlaze that her husband Joshua and his brother Caleb were on the trip abroad to do work related to a Messianic Jewish ministry.

She is desperately working to ensure that her husband can evacuate the country, but so far, she says the U.S. Embassy has not been any help. DeGroot told TheBlaze that when she contacted the U.S. Embassy, she was asked if she had filled out paperwork. When she indicated that she had done the paperwork, the embassy then told her that they would call later.

She is pleading for anyone who has the power to act, "to do something, please," she said.

"My husband, brother in law and their crew is from Fort Worth TX and is currently in Jerusalem," she wrote in a post on X. "Please help me make those in power aware that we need to BRING OUR PEOPLE HOME."

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Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey has fired off a letter pressing President Joe Biden to take action to ensure that Americans are evacuated from the dangerous war zone.

"I urge you to use all appropriate U.S. resources and tools to arrange for the immediate evacuation of American citizens in Israel who are desperately trying to return home," Smith wrote in his letter that is dated Oct. 9. "In the past thirty-six hours I have received many reports from constituents who are U.S. citizens currently in Israel, or whose relatives and friends are U.S. citizens currently in Israel, and who seek to return to the United States as soon as possible but are unable to do so."

Former GOP Rep. Mayra Flores of Texas, who is currently running in a Republican congressional primary in a bid to return to office, has noted that she has relatives stranded in Israel.

"Right now, I have family members stuck in Israel with no way of getting out. The Biden Administration has no plans to evacuate United States citizens from Israel. I am praying for their safety and evacuation—because apparently that’s all our country can do at this point," Flores tweeted.

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida has said that dozens of his constituents are stuck in Israel.

"50+ of my constituents remain in Israel at this hour and Americans are being held hostage. Where's the evacuation plan? It’s time to activate the Civil Reserve Air Fleet and get our people home," Donalds tweeted.

GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York is calling for the Biden administration to use military aircraft to evacuate Americans out of the Jewish state.

"Given the immediate challenges with getting US commercial airlines into Israel, it’s imperative that the administration use military planes to help get US citizens out of Israel as expeditiously as possible," Lawler tweeted. "In addition, we must take steps to indemnify the commercial airline carriers to get them flying back into Israel as quickly as possible — as it stands we are looking at November as the earliest time they will fly into Israel," he added.

"I am being told by multiple people in Congress right now that while they are inundated w/requests there is currently no known plan from the Biden admin to get Americans out of Israel. Few flights out are available & the American embassy is not operating...efficiently," Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson wrote in a post on X that has been retweeted by GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.

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An American Ph.D. student at Tel Aviv University who preferred to remain anonymous told TheBlaze, "We are now living in a country at war. Not a small operation like Israel has had in the past, of which I myself have gone through two. No, this is a full-scale war, complete with the most unimaginable atrocities committed by man. This is not just another conflict with Gaza, this is something completely new that Israel has not faced in many decades."

DeGroot's husband and brother-in-law have been posting updates online, and while they are currently stuck in Israel, both appear to be in good spirits.

Israel at War - Day 4 update #israelwar #hamasattack #gazaunderattack www.youtube.com

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