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New Play Opening in NY Recounts Verbatim Testimonies From Oct. 7 Survivors, Families of Victims

Phelim McAleer speaking to civilians in Israel affected by the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in a trailer for the play “October 7.” Photo: YouTube screenshot

A trailer was released on Wednesday for a play opening in New York next month that is comprised entirely of eyewitness accounts of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel using only the actual words of survivors and families of victims.

The play, titled October 7, was produced by Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, two Irish documentary filmmakers, screenwriters, New York Times best-selling authors, and veteran investigative journalists. The married couple traveled to Israel in November to interview those affected by the deadly massacre in southern Israel, in which roughly 1,200 people were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists who also took more than 200 others as hostages back to the Gaza Strip. McAleer and McElhinney traveled throughout Israel for roughly three weeks, speaking to survivors and also families of victims about how they went about their day on Oct. 6 and how their lives changed the following morning.

“We’ve covered many shocking stories but nothing comes close to what the men, women, and children of Israel faced [on Oct. 7],” McElhinney said in the trailer for the play, which provides first-hand witness accounts of what happened in their own words, without editing. “The world wants you to forget about what happened that day. The day that everything changed. We refuse to let that happen.”

McAleer added: “We’ll bring you the truth they don’t want you to hear.”

The filmmakers debuted the trailer for October 7 during the Wednesday episode of their podcast, The Ann and Phelim Scoop. McAleer also explained their desire for wanting to make the play.

“When we were in Ireland and in Europe — and even since [Oct. 7] — we’ve noticed that everyone wants to talk about Gaza, even on Oct. 8,” he said. “They didn’t want to talk about Oct. 7. They don’t want to talk about Oct. 7. Which is the exact reason why we say, ‘You should talk about Oct. 7.’ Because there was a ceasefire on Oct. 6, do you remember that? There would be no need for a ceasefire [now] if it wasn’t for Oct. 7 [and] if the hostages were released. There would be no need for a ceasefire if Hamas surrendered. But, they’re not going to do that. So we want people to remember, as they say in Hollywood, the ‘origin story’ for the war in Gaza.”

Rehearsals have began for the play, and the production is almost fully cast. McAleer said that during a recent table read with actors in New York, “most of the actors were crying at the end.”

“They were laughing too,” he added. ‘There’s a lot of humor. I know everyone finds humor in the darkest places, but I tell you, the Jewish people, they’ve had a lot of dark places but, boy, do they find humor. So there’s even jokes in [the play]. And I didn’t write the jokes. The play is 100 percent verbatim. It’s the voices of people who lived through Israel’s darkest day.”

When they first announced October 7 on their podcast in late March, McElhinney said the play will be filmed and available to those who cannot attend the show in-person. The play will additionally travel in the fall to “every Ivy League college that needs to know the truth about Oct. 7,” McAleer said, such as Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania.

“Ultimately this play is very uplifting,” McElhinney explained. “These people are extraordinary. All these different people, Israelis, who had survived, are heroes from every kind of walk of life.”

October 7 will run from May 2 – June 16 at the Actors Temple Theatre in New York City.

The post New Play Opening in NY Recounts Verbatim Testimonies From Oct. 7 Survivors, Families of Victims first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

i24 NewsThe Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.

According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.

In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.

The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.

Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.

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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen

The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.

IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.

Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.

Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.

Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.

Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.

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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 NewsBlue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.

Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.

Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.

“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”

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