Bruce Pearl: 'What Israel Must Do Now Is Not About Revenge, It's About Survival'

Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl, who is Jewish, says what happened Saturday in Israel when Hamas terrorists butchered innocent men, women and children "is a Holocaust" and a crime that now must be dealt with as a matter of Israel's survival.

During a Wednesday appearance on Dan Dakich's OutKick show, "Don't @ Me," Pearl reacted to what he saw on television happening to his fellow Jews.

"I don’t like to be divided, but here’s the deal, if Iran wants to call out Israel and for the destruction of Israel, and they’ve been saying it since 1979 when the Shah was removed, I take them at their word for it," Pearl told Dakich.

“If Israel’s neighbors — Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad — is for her destruction, and therefore the death of her citizenry, I take word for it.

“This is a Holocaust, this is a crime, and now what’s about to take place has nothing to do with revenge. This is not about revenge. What Israel must do now is nothing about revenge, it’s about survival," Pearl added.

As for the $6 billion that is supposed to go to Iran from the U.S. government, Pearl says what you're seeing is a direct result of empowerment due to policies in place by President Obama and Biden.

"Trump comes in, and I know some people don't like Donald Trump because he tweets or he's not presidential, but his policies were spot on," Pearl noted. "He comes in and says, wait a second, there's pay to slay? Wait a second, so Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, they're actually taking money and if you kill a Jew or murder a Jew or you do this suicide mission, they're going to take care of your family and pay? This is ridiculous. We're not funding that.

"And he cut off Iran."

On Twitter, the veteran college basketball coach has been just as vocal.

"Choose to live in peace in Israel or with Israel...OR LEAVE! There can no longer be another option," he advised the Palestinians living in Israel and the two million people living in Gaza."