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Expert on Oct. 7 Terrorist Attack Notes the One Positive Outcome of the Hamas Massacre
Some of the thousands of people who gathered in New York City’s Central Park on Oct. 6, 2024, to mark the one year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack and to demand the return of the hostages. Photo: Hostages and Families Forum.
Warning: The following news story contains some details of the atrocities committed during Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel that readers may find upsetting.
An author, journalist, and former Israeli government spokesperson who extensively investigated the deadly Hamas terrorist attack that took place on Oct. 7 of last year told The Algemeiner that he believes the only “positive” outcome of the massacre across southern Israel is that it made Jews worldwide and the nation of Israel more united.
“I’m not sure if people who don’t live in Israel realize how divided the people of Israel were before Oct. 7,” said Alon Penzel, referring to a time when mass anti-government protests were rampant across Israel for several months. “It felt like we were unable to live together having very different ideological thoughts … And right after Oct. 7, and since Oct. 7, there are no people in the world who are more united than the Jewish and Israeli people.”
“I don’t think there has been any other nation in history that has come together so much to volunteer and help its brothers and sisters,” he added. “And for me, I see [Hamas] have not managed to eliminate and exterminate the Jewish spirit, as they tried to do on Oct. 7 … We are overcoming. We are prevailing … It was a national tragedy, but for each and every one of us — either an Israeli citizen or a Jewish person around the world — it felt like an individual tragedy; a personal tragedy. These faces have become our brothers and sisters.”
The grandson of a Holocaust survivor, Penzel formerly served as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson for the foreign press in the Unit for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). His friend, schoolmate and Kiryat Bialik neighbor Matan Angrest, was abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on Oct. 7 and is one of the 101 hostages still held captive in the Gaza Strip a year later.
In June, Penzel published the book “Testimonies Without Boundaries: Israel: October 7th 2023,” which is an uncensored, unfiltered, and verified collection of first-hand testimonies regarding the atrocities that happened last Oct. 7. Penzel spoke to survivors of the attack – including children and elderly, and women and men who faced sexual abuse – volunteers of the Israeli emergency response organization ZAKA, the head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, survivors of the Nova music festival, and many others. The book is dedicated to the victims of Oct. 7 and calls for the immediate release of the remaining hostages taken captive that day.
Among the graphic and difficult-to-read testimonies included in the book, rescue and recovery forces talked to Penzel about finding a completely naked couple tied to a mattress with a metal wire that was inserted into their stomachs. Penzel also documented accounts about children who were murdered using knives and hammers, and civilians who were crucified. “I had to ask difficult, sometimes insensitive questions to get to the bottom of what happened,” Penzel told The Algemeiner. “The conversations might have been challenging, and those interactions are described very genuinely in the book.”
The 50-60 testimonies in the book have all been completely verified by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, as well as women’s organizations that were assigned on behalf of Israel to investigate sexual abuse that took place on Oct. 7. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also distributed the book worldwide to embassies and world leaders.
Penzel told The Algemeiner that the main purpose of his book is to commemorate the testimonies, the families of the victims, the heroes and the survivors of Oct. 7. “These testimonies need to be out, as challenging as they are, and the book is challenging to read, there is no question,” he said. “But if we say ‘this is too hard for us [to read],’ what would those who went through the atrocities say?”
“This is our duty, for the families of the victims and the victims themselves, to make sure that what happened to them is not forgotten and denied,” he added. “I felt the duty to commemorate the atrocities that occurred.”
The author also included only raw, unedited testimonies in his book because he anticipated global denial about the Hamas terrorist attack. “It’s exactly what we experienced with the Holocaust — a worldwide denial,” he said. “And I believe the only way to combat it is with the uncensored, unfiltered testimonies.”
“The purpose from the very beginning was to fight the worldwide denial that I foresaw that we would face very quickly, and unfortunately we are,” he noted. “If people are trying to contradict and refute what we are saying about the atrocities that occurred to us, what’s going to happen 50 years from now if we don’t have all the testimonies, and proofs, and evidence, and the very clear elaborate and specific details of what happened? How are we going to be able to commemorate those brothers and sisters of ours? I think the families of the victims also want the world to know for generations to come what happened to their loved ones.”
Reflecting one year later on the atrocities that took place on Oct. 7, 2023, Penzel said that while Hamas-led terrorists carried out the deadliest attack against the Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust, they were not able to break the Jewish spirit.
“I feel that although [the terrorists] did manage to infiltrate Israel and murder us and take many of us hostage, the fact that we are prevailing with our spirit is what matters,” he said. “The fact that we able to commemorate our loved ones means that we are prevailing and that we are trying to overcome, while remembering our brothers and sisters who were butchered and slaughtered on Oct. 7.”
Penzel also noted that the terrorist attack on Oct. 7 helped Israeli citizens understand “that unity is more important than any political disagreement.”
“It’s proven. We have come together. We have assisted each other,” he said. “People from all around the world; Jews from all around the world have come to Israel to volunteer. Israelis are volunteering, helping each other, no matter from where they are on the political map, no matter where they have come from ideologically.”
“Obviously I wish [Oct. 7] never happened, but it gave us a wake up call of how important unity is among the people of Israel.”
The post Expert on Oct. 7 Terrorist Attack Notes the One Positive Outcome of the Hamas Massacre first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.