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Fearing denial and disinformation, Israel shows journalists raw footage of Hamas attacks
TEL AVIV (JTA) — On Monday morning, Roxane Runel posted a photograph to Instagram of two Israel military officers addressing a crowd of reporters in an auditorium. Behind them is a giant television screen.
“Press conference between the international media and the Israeli army after it disseminated images and recordings of the Oct. 7 attacks,” Runel, a reporter for France’s M6 television channel, wrote across the photo, touting an upcoming broadcast. “Why? What is at stake?”
Runel, who has reported from several countries, has already interviewed relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, which killed and wounded thousands. Yet in the middle of Monday’s screening of the attack footage, she was one of a number of journalists who stepped out early.
“It was too much,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I knew coming here that the hardest thing for me would not be the images but the sound, because you can close your eyes if the images are too much.”
Runel was one of about 200 journalists who attended the screening, which the Israeli government billed as raw and unedited audio and video taken from Hamas terrorists’ body cameras and phones as they massacred communities on Israel’s border with Gaza. In addition to clips of Hamas attackers shooting people, the 43-minute compilation contained graphic images of children being murdered, bodies burned, civilians being mowed down and other atrocities.
Gruesome photos and videos have circulated online in the two weeks after the attack, along with harrowing accounts of the violence visited upon Israelis. The images have become so ubiquitous that Jewish day schools in the United States cautioned students to delete their social media apps to avoid seeing them, while journalists and other public figures have expressed ambivalence about sharing them.
The IDF has taken delegations of foreign journalists into some of the hardest-hit communities, with one spokesperson saying just days after the attack, “Walking through here is like Eisenhower walking through Bergen-Belsen and seeing the destruction and carnage. The world needs to witness this firsthand.”
Now, the Israeli government’s decision to broadcast the footage came as it is increasingly concerned that people are questioning the scale and depravity of Hamas’ massacre. Social media users and journalists alike have expressed skepticism about widespread reports and testimonies of the attack’s most harrowing details, often at the same time as they have sought to shift attention toward the escalating casualties of Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza, where it aims to depose Hamas.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this and I can’t believe that we as a country are having to do this,” said Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, in a video announcing the press conference. “As we work to defeat the terror organization that brutalized our people, we are witnessing a Holocaust denial-like phenomenon evolving in real time as people are casting doubt on the magnitude of the atrocities that Hamas committed against our people, and in fact recorded in order to glorify that violence.”
At the press conference, held at a military base north of Tel Aviv, chief IDF spokesperson Adm. Daniel Hagari said the military had “been thinking about this for a couple of days, whether to show it or not,” but decided that screening the footage served as a valuable reminder of the atrocities both for the international media covering the war and Israelis themselves.
“We will not let the world forget who we are fighting,” he said, adding that the footage helps Israelis “to understand ourselves what we are fighting for.”
In addition, IDF Maj. Gen. Mickey Edelstein told the reporters, the Israeli military has evidence it cannot show of sexual violence committed by the Hamas terrorists as well as evidence of links between Hamas and Iran.
He dispelled Hamas claims that terrorists unaffiliated with the group committed the atrocities, saying that the video shows proof that “the vast majority are Hamas” and that the perpetrators attacking civilians were dressed in full tactical gear. Written and other evidence the IDF has discovered, he added, shows that Hamas had planned “to bring hostages and keep families, in order that it would be much more painful.”
Many attendees gasped in horror at difficult elements of the footage, and some chose to exit the theater before the screening had finished. Runel said her personal “limit” was reached when listening to an audio clip of a call on WhatsApp between a Hamas terrorist and his parents, made via the stolen cellphone of an Israeli victim.
“He tells them on the phone — with a voice that is so ecstatic — he sounds like he’s out of his mind,” she said. “He was repeating the same thing over and over again, ‘I killed 10 of them.’ He was saying this as something he was really proud of and he wanted his parents to check the Whatsapp” to see videos he sent of the massacre. The man’s father reacted with praise, while his mother begged him to return home.
Amit Palit, a news anchor and correspondent for India TV based in New Delhi, said that after reporting on the attacks of Oct. 7 on live television, seeing the raw footage helped him understand the “bigger picture.” He said the screening “was necessary for many people who have some doubts.”
Palit, who has been covering the war in Israel for the past 12 days, was most affected by a video of two young brothers after they lost their father, who was murdered in front of them with an explosive while the three were hiding together in a bomb shelter at home. The footage was among the “very painful” clips he witnessed, he said.
“He was asking, ‘Dad,’ and the teenager said, ‘Why am I alive?’” Palit recounted. “A 13-year-old boy cursing himself, asking why he was alive, asking his brother ‘Can you see?’ And he couldn’t see because he lost [one of] his eyes” from the shrapnel of the blast that killed his father.”
Some journalists expressed skepticism about the screening, saying that authentic footage compiled by the Israeli army could come with its own agenda. Nicolas Coadou, a reporter for BFN TV in France, said the footage “is edited, they choose what they want to show us.”
But he acknowledged that reporting on the press conference would be challenging.
“I have a live [broadcast] in one hour,” he said. “And I don’t know what I am going to say.”
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Alleged Arsonist Targeted Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Over Palestinian Stance, Police Say
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and the Pennsylvania State Police provide an update on the act of arson that took place at the Governor’s Residence, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, US, April 13, 2025. Photo: Commonwealth Media Services/Handout via REUTERS
The suspected arsonist who allegedly tried to kill Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro set fire to his official residence out of anger over the governor’s perceived stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a search warrant signed by State Police.
The suspect, 38-year-old Cody Balmer, called 911 prior to the attack and accused Shapiro of orchestrating nefarious “plans” against the Palestinian people. Balmer also referred to Shapiro, who is Jewish, as a “monster,” according to the search warrant, which was obtained by the PennLive news outlet.
Balmer told emergency operators that Shapiro “will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” and demanded that the governor “stop having my friends killed.”
The suspect continued, telling operators, “Our people have been put through too much by that monster.”
Corporal Benjamin Forsythe of the Pennsylvania State Police said in a warrant to obtain Balmer’s devices that the suspect set fire to Shapiro’s residence, the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, over the alleged ongoing “injustices to the people of Palestine” and his Jewish faith.
Shapiro’s residence was set ablaze on Sunday morning, hours after the governor hosted a gathering to celebrate the first night of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Shapiro said that he, his wife, and his children were awakened by state troopers knocking on their door at 2 am. The governor and his family immediately evacuated the premises and were unscathed.
According to police, Balmer scaled a nearly 7-foot-high security fence and evaded authorities before breaking into the governor’s mansion. The suspect was able to remain in Shapiro’s home for around a minute before throwing Molotov cocktails and escaping.
The suspect later revealed to police that he planned to beat Shapiro with a sledgehammer if he encountered him after gaining access into his residence, according to authorities.
Balmer, who was charged with eight crimes by authorities, including serious felonies such as attempted homicide, terrorism, and arson. The suspect faces potentially 100 years in jail. He has been denied bail.
Shapiro, a practicing Jew, has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of Israel. In the days following Hamas’s brutal slaughter of roughly 1,200 people across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Shapiro issued statements condemning the Palestinian terrorist group and gave a speech at a local synagogue. The governor also ordered the US and Pennsylvania Commonwealth flags to fly at half-mast outside the state capitol to honor the victims.
Shapiro has condemned protests against Israeli- and Jewish-owned businesses in Pennsylvania as “antisemitic” and resisted demands to call for a “ceasefire” in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The governor revised the state codes of conduct to bar government employees from participating in “scandalous or disgraceful” behavior.
Shapiro’s strident support of Israel in the wake of Oct. 7 also incensed many pro-Palestinian activists, resulting in the governor being dubbed “Genocide Josh” by far-left demonstrators.
In a statement, US Attorney General Pam Bondi condemned the attack targeting Shapiro. However, Bondi did not clarify whether she plans on opening a federal case against the suspect.
“It is absolutely horrific what happened to him,” Bondi said. “We have been praying for Josh, for his family. Those photos, it was horrible. I firmly believe that they wanted to kill him. The defendant allegedly said he was going to use a hammer if he could have gotten to the governor. I’ve known the governor many, many years. It is horrible, and yes, we are working with state authorities to — it’s now a pending investigation — anything we can to help convict the person that did this and keep them behind bars as long as possible,” Bondi said.
In statements to reporters, Shapiro refused to accuse the suspect of antisemitism, saying that he would allow prosecutors to determine the motivation.
“I know that there are people out there who want to ascribe their own viewpoints as to what happened here and why. … I choose not to participate in that,” Shapiro said.
“Prosecutors will ultimately determine what motivated this. The district attorney and the Department of Justice can comment on that further,” Shapiro added.
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Backlash Grows in UK as Hamas Mounts Legal Challenge Against Terrorist Designation
Demonstrators hold Israeli and British flags outside the Law Courts, during a march against antisemitism, after an increase in the UK, during a temporary truce between the Palestinian Islamist terrorists Hamas and Israel, in London, Britain, Nov. 26, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Susannah Ireland
A growing wave of condemnation is mounting in the UK after lawyers representing the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas sought to challenge the organization’s terrorist designation, prompting fierce criticism from British Members of Parliament and Jewish organizations.
Last week, Hamas filed a legal petition arguing for its removal from the United Kingdom’s list of proscribed terrorist groups, describing itself as “a Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project.”
Riverway Law submitted a claim to UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on behalf of senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk, who also provided a witness statement in the case. Given that accepting funds from Hamas would violate British law, the firm is providing pro bono representation to the terrorist group.
“The British government’s decision to proscribe Hamas is an unjust one that is symptomatic of its unwavering support for Zionism, apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing in Palestine for over a century,” the filing reads. “Hamas does not and never has posed a threat to Britain, despite the latter’s ongoing complicity in the genocide of our people.”
Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, had been banned in Britain since 2001, but the Interior Ministry broadened the ban to include the group’s political entities in 2021, arguing that Hamas functions as a unified organization rather than separate branches.
“I would be very surprised if the British government agrees to remove Hamas from the proscribed list,” Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, told The Algemeiner in an exclusive interview.
“The UK is not entirely sympathetic to Israel, but it’s still very unlikely they would rule in favor of Hamas.”
In applying for removal from the list of proscribed organizations, Turner explained that Hamas does not deny being a terrorist group but rather argues that it is undesirable for it to remain banned.
In its filing, Riverway Law outlines three primary grounds for why Hamas should be removed from the terrorist list. The first argument contends that the UK’s ongoing proscription of Hamas violates international law, including the British government’s obligation not to be complicit in genocide, which Hamas claims is being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.
Additionally, it highlights the UK’s alleged responsibility to end “the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories,” referencing the 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion that Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal.
The second argument claims that proscribing Hamas violates the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as UK law prohibits the promotion or support of proscribed organizations. Hamas argues that this ban restricts open debate on the Palestinian issue and peaceful demonstrations, while also being discriminatory since Israel is not similarly proscribed.
The third argument asserts that the proscription is disproportionate and not sufficiently justified. Hamas argues that there is no direct threat to the UK, that its violence is a “legitimate response to occupation,” and that the proscription undermines Palestinians’ democratic will when they elected Hamas.
The terrorist group violently eliminated its Palestinian opposition in a brief conflict in 2007, when Hamas took full control of Gaza after winning legislative elections the prior year.
Turner countered that all three arguments lack merit, emphasizing that rights such as freedom of expression and assembly can be lawfully restricted under UK and international law to protect national security, public safety, and the rights or property of others.
He also pointed out that Hamas still holds 59 of the hostages abducted during its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and that hostage-taking is a crime against humanity under international conventions.
“Hamas is a very vicious terrorist organization,” he told The Algemeiner.
Earlier this week, British Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick announced that he had reported Riverway Law attorney Fahad Ansari for supporting Hamas and jihad, as well as the firm’s potential breach of sanctions regulations.
“The legal profession is being damaged by ideologues exploiting their status to platform extremism,” Jenrick wrote in a post on the X social media platform. “This isn’t about free speech. It’s about a man who repeatedly crosses the line into open support for terrorism — all while the authorities look away.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel also criticized the legal effort, calling Hamas an “evil Iranian-backed terrorist organization, which kidnaps, tortures, and murders people, including British nationals.”
More British citizens (18) were killed during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 onslaught than in any foreign terrorist attack since Al Qaeda struck the US on Sept. 11, 2001.
“They pose an ongoing threat to our security and to the peace and stability of the Middle East and have weapons and training facilities that put lives at risk and threaten our interests,” Patel said in a statement. “They show no respect for human rights, life, and dignity and have oppressed people living in Gaza for too long.”
“Those campaigning to end the proscription of Hamas fail to understand the seriousness of the threats this terrorist organization poses,” the statement read.
Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), a UK-based Jewish civil rights group, also dismissed the case as a “bad-faith attempt to promote genocidal antisemitism,” rejecting the argument that proscribing Hamas stifles political engagement. They argued that it’s still possible to campaign for Palestinian rights, criticize Israel, or support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without endorsing Hamas or terrorism.
Riverway Law’s legal challenge on behalf of Hamas came less than a month after a group of British lawmakers released a new and extensive report documenting the atrocities of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 atrocities across southern Israel.
The report showed that, in total, about 7,000 Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed 1,182 people, wounded more than 4,000 others, and kidnapped 251 hostages — 210 living and 41 dead bodies at the time of their abduction — during the onslaught. The study detailed Hamas’s planning, the weapons used, and the violence which occurred at each location, including gristly details of sexual violence, torture, and the desecration of corpses.
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Maldives Bans Israeli Tourists, Charges ‘Ongoing Acts of Genocide’
A short 20 minutes’ speedboat ride from Male will bring you to this island resort destination, featuring a collection of luxury beach and water villas and award-winning spa. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
An island paradise known for its white, sandy beaches and the requirement that its citizens strictly follow Sunni Islam has closed its doors to holders of Israeli passports, citing “resolute solidarity with the Palestinian cause.”
On Monday, the Parliament of the Maldives passed a law amending its immigration laws which the country’s President Mohamed Muizzu then approved on Tuesday. In order for an Israeli to enter the Maldives, they would need a passport from another country.
While Maldivian parliamentarians had announced this decision in June 2024, they have only formalized it into law now. The government had postponed implementation and reviewed the measure due to concerns that the broad language of a blanket ban would affect those with Israeli passports who are Arab Muslim or Palestinian.
A spokesperson for Muizzu told Agence France-Presse this week that the law took effect immediately.
Muizzu’s office released a statement following the bill’s approval, saying that “the ratification reflects the government’s firm stance in response to the continuing atrocities and ongoing acts of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.”
During last year’s parliamentary debates about the bill, one lawmaker, Qasim Ibrahim, expressed his disagreement, warning that “when we decide that a person with Israeli nationality can’t come to the Maldives, that means we’re talking about deciding that Jews can’t come.” He said that “as they are people who have believed in prophets of a religion revealed by Allah, we need to think very deeply about the chance of us doing such a thing, from that perspective. We need to think about that very carefully.”
The Maldives is a group of nearly 1,200 islands comprising almost 116 square miles in the Indian Ocean, southwest of India and Sri Lanka. None of the coral islands is higher than six feet above sea level. The population is approximately 530,000 people with its capital Malé including 392,000, making it one of the most densely packed cities on the planet. Islam was introduced to the islands in the 12th century, and they passed through colonial hands over the last 600 years, first with the Portuguese in the 1500s, then through the Dutch in the 1600s and British in the 1700s. The Maldives became an independent sultanate in 1965 before the sultan was deposed, leading to a president in 1968. Its tourism business began developing in the 1980s.
In February, 59 Israelis visited the Maldives along with 214,000 other foreign tourists. Last year, Israel’s Foreign Ministry advised against Israelis going to the country, repeating advice first issued in December 2023 following an increase in anti-Israel sentiment.
The Maldives has criminalized the practice of non-Muslim religions and is one of many Muslim countries which refuses to recognize the Jewish state. Others include Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. Despite this lack of ties with Israel, the Maldives had reversed a previous ban on Israeli tourists in the early 1990s and also pursued potential relations in 2010, plans it halted in 2014.
Human Rights watchdog group Freedom House ranks the Maldives as “partly free” with a score of 43 on a 100-point scale. (In comparison, the organization regards Israel as “free” with a score of 73 and the United States as “free” at 84.)
According to Freedom House, “an opposition victory in the 2018 presidential election resulted in initial efforts to revise antidemocratic laws and establish transitional justice mechanisms. Despite improvements since the election, many basic freedoms remain restricted, and government-led efforts to reform the justice system remain nascent.”
In 2014, the Maldives passed a law mandating the death penalty for apostates from Islam, including for children as young as seven. The law also allows executions for murderers under 18. The country had not executed anyone since 1953, when a moratorium was passed, and has yet to execute those currently held on death row.
According to the Human Dignity Trust, the Maldives “criminalizes same-sex sexual activity between men and between women. Sentences include a maximum penalty of eight years’ imprisonment and 100 lashes. There is some evidence of the law being enforced in recent years, and limited reports of LGBT people being subjected to discrimination and violence.”
Muizzu assumed office after winning the Maldives’ 2023 presidential election with 54 percent of the votes. According to the BBC, he supports Chinese development in the country, and “China, with its rapidly expanding naval forces, would want access to such a strategically important location —something India wants to prevent. Beijing is also keen to protect its energy supplies from the Gulf which pass through that route.”
On Jan. 26, 2024, Muizzu wrote on X that “Maldives believes that Israel needs to stop the killing in Gaza and implement an immediate ceasefire. Every human life has value, which needs to be protected. Bombings, displacement, and apartheid will not bring peace. True and lasting peace can only be attained by establishing an independent Palestinian State based on pre-1967 borders.”
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