Bruce Pearl Reflects On Oct. 7 Attacks, Calls For Peace Through Trump’s Policies

On Tuesday, former Auburn University basketball coach Bruce Pearl joined OutKick's Dan Dakich on the latest episode of Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich. It was, as the legendary coach noted, Oct. 7, which makes it the two-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas that started the war in Gaza.

Pearl — who serves as the US Israel Education Association chairman — talked to Dakich about war and what needs to be done to bring it to a close and foster peace in the Middle East.

"Today is the 2-year anniversary of one of the world's largest, biggest holocausts, and that was the murder of 1200 Israelis," Pearl said. "And there were over 50 Americans killed two years ago on that day by Hamas and Palestinian terrorists that were basically protesting over the fact that they don't have their own state."

Last month, Pearl announced that he was retiring from leading the Tigers, with his son, Steven, taking over. There was speculation at the time that Pearl would run for the US Senate, but he announced that he would not be doing that.

Still, he's up to speed on what's happening around the globe.

Pearl discussed the deep-rooted conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and voiced hope for progress in ongoing peace talks happening in Egypt.

"So what I'm hoping for right now is this, they're in Egypt right now, and they're talking about releasing the — maybe — 18 alive hostages," Pearl said. "God bless what condition they're going to be in and what the pictures are going to be when they come out. I guarantee what they've been doing for the last few weeks is trying to give them some food and medicine so they don't look half dead. And then (they'll release) about 20 bodies of some that have fallen a long, long time ago in exchange for like, 1200 prisoners."

Pearl also talked about what needs to be done to bring some peace to the region for good.

"We need to continue to support President Trump," he said. "He has done an amazing job. Instead of pressures from all over the world to cave and give these terrorists a reward of another state, this whole 'land for peace' stuff that we tried in Gaza, it didn't work. It failed. They spent all these years building a terrorist state and just waiting and waiting and waiting for a moment when they could do what they did on October 7. 

"We cannot let that happen again," he continued. "The hostages have got to come home. Hamas has got to be demilitarized and can no longer be involved in any future government… that's going to be a baseline, and that's not negotiable. I don't care what they're talking about in Egypt, once we go from there, then there's a real possibility for President Trump to build on the Abraham Accords and have there be a prosperous, peaceful Middle East."