OPINION
Over the weekend I was sent a video from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It outlined in two short, yet horrifying minutes some of the appalling war crimes and atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on innocent civilians of Israel in the border areas around the Gaza Strip.
I was also invited to register for a press conference held at Glilot Junction, the military base in south Tel Aviv that houses the famous Unit 8200 amongst others. I had previously been at the base back in 2014 when I visited Israel.
That briefing outlined and expanded on the video I had been sent.
Eylon Levy, an official spokesman for the Israeli government succinctly describes what is contained within that video. He is not mincing words either.
Breitbart also had a reporter involved in the briefing, and their reporting of the briefing is similarly harrowing:
On Monday, the IDF invited journalists onto a military base to view 43 minutes of raw footage of the attack by the Palestinian Hamas terrorist group on October 17 — an attack that claimed over 1,400 lives and saw over 4,000 people wounded, and more than 200 taken prisoner.
The footage was compiled from both victims and perpetrators, from GoPro cameras, dashboard cameras, social media, surveillance cameras, and even audio recording apps on mobile phones. It is just a small part of what the IDF still possesses.
We were not allowed to bring cell phones, cameras, or laptops into the room, because the IDF does not want the public to see the footage before the families of the victims have seen it — if it is ever seen again at all. We were only allowed notepads and pens.
Throughout the screening, there were gasps, and cries in the audience. I heard some journalists whisper: “Make it stop.”
Some of the footage had already appeared in snippets of news coverage, or on social media, during the attack on October 7, and in the hours that followed. But most had never been screened publicly before, or in full context.
We saw — we still see, in our memories — civilian drivers being murdered in their cars. We saw terrorists setting fires to homes. We saw the aftermath — burned bodies; corpses of people who had been bound and gagged; bodies of murdered children and babies; a decapitated soldier.
We see and hear the terrified screams of female IDF soldiers who had taken shelter against the attack. Some are murdered underneath a table as they scream — the incoherent, terrified scream of a living human being facing violent death, helplessly.
Again and again, we see Hamas terrorists pumping bullets into people who are already dead — just to make sure.
Some of the terrorists are visibly and audibly nervous in the footage. But they are not in a combat situation: they are coming for civilians.
They are hunting Jews, trying to find them in their hiding places, reveling in the piles of bodies, mutilating corpses, looting the victims.
Breitbart
Now I will describe my own viewing of the video. I am no sook, I hunt, I have killed animals, and I’m not squeamish. Know this, it was the most appalling two minutes of my life I have ever experienced. I felt in my core a sickened feeling. I cried, and I shouted at the screen. I watched the whole thing, and I wish I hadn’t.
But I watched it and I’m writing about it because I am reminded of what Dwight D. Eisenhower said after witnessing the depravity of a Nazi death camp first-hand when the camps began to be liberated.
“Get it all on record now – get the films – get the witnesses – because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I felt compelled to watch this, and now to share it because we are tragically watching history repeat. We are seeing denialism of the wholesale ethnically motivated slaughter of innocent civilians, including the butchering of children, women, old people and other non-combatants. There are people actively justifying the brutality of Hamas in attacking civilians, and there are people suggesting that the stories are made up.
Well, they aren’t, and the ONLY way to counter the lies and the excuses is to publish these atrocities.
But it is not for the faint-hearted. That is why the video is not in this article. We have placed it separately and informed you as best we can that it is horrific, awful, and disgusting. But it is important that it is available.
IDF Spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the military had hesitated before sharing the footage. But he said the IDF ultimately decided to do so because “we want to understand, ourselves, what we are fighting for.” He spoke about the duty to create a “collective memory,” noting that Israel was doing so even while it was still fighting the enemy that had attacked it.
Hagari also said that the attacks had nothing to do with Islam. But it was impossible to ignore the shouts of “Allahu Akbar!” that accompanied so much of the killing, and that greeted the dead bodies and the bloodied captives when they arrived in Gaza.
Whatever this attack had to do with Islam is something that Islam has to deal with. For now, Israel has a war to fight and win.
And this is why: a terrible crime, a crime against humanity, demands justice.
Breitbart
You can access the video by clicking on the link below.
WARNING: THE VIDEO ON THE LINK BELOW SHOWS SCENES OF MUTILATION, KILLING, KIDNAPPING AND TERRIBLE WAR CRIMES.
The Terrorist Attack by Hamas of October 7 2023
There is no ability to leave comments on the page with the video. If you choose to view it, come back here and leave your thoughts.
We must never let anyone excuse this crime against humanity. We must never let the world forget these appalling crimes.
The following are documents released by the IDF and Ministry of Foreign Affairs showing the extent of the attacks.
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