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The Horrible, Unspoken Truth About October 7 — Terrorism Works
An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
I had been meaning to watch Sheryl Sandberg’s film about the events of October 7th, Screams Before Silence, ever since it came out on YouTube roughly two weeks ago. It has taken me those two weeks to muster the courage and will to endure what I knew would be a painful and harrowing 57 minutes.
I have now watched the film. It was, indeed, painful and harrowing. Not because it provided information I didn’t already know; I knew that on October 7th, Hamas terrorists murdered and raped and mutilated (sometimes in that order) hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Israeli men, women and children. But hearing about it directly from the mouths of those who witnessed and experienced it was absolutely gut-wrenching.
Hearing a young girl tell of having to step over the body of her father, who had just been murdered, as the family was led out of their safe-room by kidnappers, only to have her young sister shot in the face and killed as well, because she kept fainting, thus inconveniencing the kidnappers, is something I don’t think I will ever forget.
Sandberg’s focus, however, is not the murders of the fathers and children, but rather the rapes and sexual assaults of the women. And as horrific as the individual stories are, perhaps even more shocking is the picture the film paints of the degree to which these rapes and sexual assaults were not spontaneous acts of barbarity. They were planned and orchestrated.
At one point, Sandberg interviews Shari Mendes, an IDF reservist at the October 7th military morgue who helped process the hundreds of body bags that came in. As Mendes describes the evidence of sexual violence she discovered in so many of those body bags, Sandberg asks: “Did this feel systematic to you?”
Mendes replies: “Yes, it did seem systematic, to use sexual violence as a weapon of war. I can’t imagine why anyone in the world would have a reason to shoot a woman in the vagina or in the breast — a deliberate genital mutilation of this specific population of women.”
Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a former Vice-President of the UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, tells Sandberg: “The bodies whose breasts were cut were found in several other locations. That could not have been unless it was premeditated and preconceived by Hamas themselves.”
Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, head of the Civil Commission on Oct. 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children, further tells Sandberg: “It wasn’t incidental, it wasn’t just happening. They learned, they did their homework. This is kind of a pattern that we’re seeing, that it’s not only sexual abuse, but it’s sexual abuse in its worst form. It’s like they wanted to inflict pain in the cruelest manner possible.”
Sandberg follows up, asking Professor Halperin-Kaddari why Hamas would use sexual violence “as part of their remit for this attack?” The Professor answers: “Using sexual violence as a tool of war, of weaponizing women, sadly is [as] old as the history of humanity. Because when the body of the woman is violated, it symbolizes the body of the whole nation.”
It is possible that this is precisely the explanation for why Hamas undertook a raid of rape and mutilation with a brutality more consistent with the tactics of Genghis Khan than of any modern army. It is possible that the depth of their hatred of Jews, coupled with a religious fervor, resulted in a desire to inflict as much pain, not just physically but emotionally, on the Israeli populace as they could. They clearly thought using sexual violence to “weaponize women” would help achieve that goal.
But as I watched Screams Before Silence this week, in the context of more recent news — the widespread campus protests, the Biden administration stopping military aid to Israel — I was struck by a disturbing thought: the actions of Hamas on October 7th worked.
They worked not just in terms of inflicting pain upon their enemies, but in terms of leading to tangible public relations and geopolitical gains.
It was the very brutality of the attack on October 7th that resulted in the massive scale of Israel’s response, and it is the scale of Israel’s response that has resulted in unprecedented pro-Palestinian (and even pro-Hamas) protests on college campuses and throughout the United States and Europe. Protests of this magnitude have never occurred in the history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
It is also the scale of Israel’s response that has driven a wedge between Israel and the US — as reflected in the US failing to veto a UN ceasefire resolution biased against Israel, in Biden halting military aid, and in the recent Biden administration report making the preposterous claim that Israel had likely violated international law during the Gaza war.
Further, it is clear that there is now more pressure on Israel from the US and the international community for a two-state solution than there has been for decades. This would also qualify as a major victory for Hamas, were it not for the fact that Hamas opposes a two-state solution. Still, if history is a guide, the pressure will all be directed at Israel to make concessions, not at the Palestinians, so in that sense, it very much is a Hamas victory.
In order for Hamas to reap the rewards for their October 7th atrocities, there was one thing they counted on in addition to the scale of Israel’s response — they counted on the equally predictable anti-Israel bias of the UN, most of the Western press, and most of the Western leaders. Everyone played their part in a very predictable manner.
I say predictable, because it is not new. Yasser Arafat figured out the formula long ago: commit terrorist attacks, then wait for Israel’s response to prompt the West to force concessions on Israel, not the Palestinians. Hamas just took it to another level.
What the Western press and political leaders don’t seem to appreciate — or more likely, don’t seem to care about — is that by rewarding Hamas for October 7th, they reinforce the notion that terrorism works. As every economist (and every parent) knows, when you reward a behavior, you will get more of it. And so, rather than breaking the cycle of violence, the appeasement of Iran and Hamas only perpetuates it.
I can anticipate an argument that some might have at this point: “If Hamas committed such barbaric atrocities in order to provoke an extreme response by Israel, then wouldn’t Israel have been wiser not to have made such a response? Couldn’t Israel have won by responding in a limited fashion and leaving Hamas looking like the bad guy?”
My answer to that argument is: watch just 15 minutes of Sheryl Sandberg’s film, and then see if you can say that Israel’s response was excessive. Furthermore, Hamas has promised to repeat October 7th again and again and again. No nation could continue to exist with such a threat hanging over its head. Israel has no choice but to finish the job of destroying Hamas, whatever the cost in terms of its international reputation or relationship with the US.
And this is the diabolical genius of what Hamas did on October 7th. It worked. But only because the Western leaders, the Western press, and college students are all playing their parts. To those who frustratedly decry the never ending cycle of violence in the Middle East — terrorism followed by reprisal followed by terrorism followed by reprisal — I’d like to suggest a solution that has yet to be tried: stop rewarding terrorism and perhaps we’ll get a lot less of it.
Michael Kaplan is a TV writer-producer, playwright, and children’s book author. For his TV work, he has been nominated for four Emmy Awards, winning one.
The post The Horrible, Unspoken Truth About October 7 — Terrorism Works first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Michigan Mayor Says Resident ‘Not Welcome’ in City After Objecting to Street Sign Named After Terrorist Supporter
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud speaks at a press conference in Dearborn, Michigan. Photo: Screenshot
A City Council meeting in Dearborn, Michigan erupted into controversy last week after Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, a Democrat, told a local resident he was “not welcome” when the man objected to renaming a street sign after an Arab-American journalist who has praised internationally designated terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
The honorary sign in question recognizes Osama Siblani, founder of The Arab American News, a bilingual weekly that has served Dearborn’s Arab-American community for more than four decades. Supporters praise Siblani for amplifying Arab and Muslim voices in US media. However, critics argue that his past remarks regarding terrorist groups make the recognition inappropriate.
At last week’s meeting, Edward “Ted” Barham, a Christian resident of Dearborn — a heavily Muslim city known for being a hub of anti-Israel sentiment — objected to the sign and accused Siblani of backing Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are designated as terrorist organizations by the US government.
“I feel like having that sign up there is almost like naming a street Hezbollah Street or Hamas Street,” Barham said.
“Hezbollah bombed the embassy in Beirut, including many Americans. I just feel it’s quite inappropriate,” Barham continued, likely referring to Hezbollah’s 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks at the Beirut International Airport, killing 241 American service members and dozens of French soldiers.
“He talks about how the blood of the martyrs irrigates the land of Palestine,” Barham added.
The resident explained that, as a Christian, he wanted to encourage peace and closed by quoting Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Hammoud intervened during Barham’s remarks, accusing him of spreading bigotry against Muslims in past online videos.
“Although you live here, I want you to know that as mayor, you are not welcome here,” Hammoud said. “The day you move out of this city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out.”
The mayor called Barham “a bigot, and you are racist, and you’re an Islamophobe,” before telling his constituent to figure out how to live with the sign.
“The best suggestion I have for you is to not drive on Warren Avenue or to close your eyes while you’re doing it. His name is up there, and I spoke at a ceremony celebrating it because he’s done a lot for this community,” Hammoud said.
Hammoud has established himself as an especially outspoken critic of Israel who has repeatedly condemned Israel’s military operations against Hamas, accusing the Jewish state of committing a “genocide” in Gaza and an “ethnic cleansing” in the West Bank. Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, a brutal onslaught that started the current Gaza war, Hammoud condemned the Jewish state as a “racist apartheid system that criminalizes Palestinian existence.”
The mayor’s comments, captured on video, have since sparked debate. Critics say they reflect intolerance toward dissenting views, while supporters argue Hammoud was standing up against anti-Muslim rhetoric.
The street sign in question, located on Warren Avenue, was approved earlier this month by the Wayne County Commission, not the Dearborn City Council. County officials, including Council President Michael Sareini, attended an unveiling ceremony where Hammoud praised Siblani as a voice of the Arab-American community for more than 40 years.
During a 2022 “Nakba Day” rally, Silbani urged Muslim Americans to continue to “fight” for the Palestinian cause, encouraging some to even take up arms against Israel. “Nakba” is the Arabic term for “catastrophe” used by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists to refer to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.
“Believe me, everyone should fight within his means. They will fight with stones, others will fight with guns, others will fight with planes, drones, and rockets, others will fight with their voices, and others will fight with their hands and say, ‘Free, free Palestine!’” Siblani said in 2022.
Siblani has defended his comments, telling the Daily Mail that his words were a call for justice, not violence. “‘People have the right to fight occupation and oppression by all necessary means and it is justified and accepted under international law. I said here in America we fight with our words of support for free Palestine,” he said, adding that thousands of residents have praised the street sign as recognition of his decades of community work.
“I stand firm on my opinion of people’s right to fight oppression and occupation by all means as they seek their freedom and sovereignty including the Palestinian people,” Silbani continued.
Siblani has also defended Hamas, the terrorist group which slaughtered roughly 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as “freedom fighters.”
At a Ford Community and Performing Arts Center rally in 2023, Siblani defended Hamas as “not a terrorist organization.”
“The terrorist is Benjamin Netanyahu and his government,” he said during the rally, referring to Israel’s prime minister.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Siblani also told a crowd chanting “death to Israel” at a September 2024 rally in Dearborn that Hezbollah will “take care of the job” by destroying the Jewish state. He later threatened to send Israeli Jews “back to Poland.”
Dearborn, home to one of the largest Muslim and Arab American populations in the US, has long been a focal point for debates over identity, politics, and Middle East issues. In the two years following the Hamas-led massacres in Israel, Dearborn has transformed into a tinderbox of protests and demonstrations signaling opposition to the Jewish state.
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‘Never Forget’: ADL Files Oct. 7 Lawsuit Against Hamas, Iran, North Korea
The bodies of people, some of them elderly, lie on a street after they were killed by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Ammar Awad via Reuters Connect
A legal effort to hold the perpetrators of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel is being mounted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and its partners, which on Thursday filed a major lawsuit in US federal court against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and a slew of state sponsors of terrorism, including Iran and North Korea.
“The victims of the Oct. 7 massacre deserve justice, accountability, and redress,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “This lawsuit seeks to do that by holding those responsible for the carnage accountable, from the the state sponsors who provided the funding, weapons, and training to the terrorist organizations who carried out these unspeakable atrocities.”
The suit is made possible by federal laws, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and Anti-Terrorism Act, allowing for the kin of the victims of terrorism to sue those who contributed to their murders. It seeks damages, compensatory and punitive, for the dozens of plaintiffs who brought the action while aiming to expose the funding networks which facilitate mass atrocities and destabilization of the societies subjected to them.
“The world must never forget what happened on Oct. 7. Our son’s life was senselessly cut short,” said David and Hazel Brief, the parents of Yona Brief, whom Hamas fatally injured during its onslaught. “We believe it is critical that those responsible for the horrific terror inflicted that day are held accountable in a court of law, to ensure the record is clear as to who helped support, plan, and carry out the violence that day. We are hopeful that this type of litigation will help prevent attacks like these in the future, so that no other families have to go through losing a loved on as a result of such violence.”
On Oct. 7, 2023, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, invaded neighboring Israel and massacred 1,200 people, mostly civilians, injured thousands more, and kidnapped over 200 hostages. In the days following the tragedy, the brutality of Hamas’s violence shocked the world as numerous eyewitnesses and victims shared accounts of rape, torture, beheading, and the mutilation of the bodies of the deceased.
In March 2024, the United Nation said in a report commissioned by the Representative of the Secretary General that Hamas likely committed mass acts of gang-rape and torture against women during the massacre and continued to abuse women whom it imprisoned. The report came amid a volley of attacks by anti-Israel agitators, who discredited the testimonies of rape victims, attempting to bury them under counter accusations of anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia.
“Credible circumstantial information, which may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment was also gathered,” the report said, as previously reported by The Algemeiner and other outlets. “It also said that the research team “found clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.”
The previous month, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel issued a report detailing harrowing accounts of Hamas’s sexual violence. In 35 pages, it recounted numerous sexual assaults reported by Israel women, several of which were perpetrated in the presence of their loved ones. Some women were killed after the act, some during it. Hamas terrorists also desecrated the bodies of victims they murdered, mutilating their genitalia, and they raped men.
Hamas’s violence and mission to destroy Israel has inspired hatred across the world, triggering a wave of antisemitic hate crimes, perpetrated by anti-Zionists, in the US unlike any seen in the country’s history.
In June, a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by a major Jewish organization. The suspect charged for the double murder, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. The FBI affidavit supporting the criminal charges against Rodriguez stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”
Less than two weeks later, a man firebombed a crowd of people who were participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the Israeli hostages who remain imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza. A victim of the attack, Karen Diamond, 82, later died, having sustained severe, fatal injuries.
Another antisemitic incident motivated by anti-Zionism occurred in San Francisco, where an assailant identified by law enforcement as Juan Diaz-Rivas and others allegedly beat up a Jewish victim in the middle of the night. Diaz-Rivas and his friends approached the victim while shouting “F—k the Jews, Free Palestine,” according to local prosecutors.
“[O]ne of them punched the victim, who fell to the ground, hit his head and lost consciousness,” the San Francisco district attorney’s office said in a statement. “Allegedly, Mr. Diaz-Rivas and others in the group continued to punch and kick the victim while he was down. A worker at a nearby business heard the altercation and antisemitic language and attempted to intervene. While trying to help the victim, he was kicked and punched.”
According to an FBI report issued last month, antisemitic hate crimes are occurring at record-setting rates. Even as hate crimes decreased overall, the report said, those perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent in 2024 to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the FBI’s counting them. Jewish American groups noted that this surge, which included 178 assaults, is being experienced by a demographic group which constitutes just 2 percent of the US population.
Also, a striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims were targeted the next highest amount as the victims of 256 offenses, or about 9 percent of the total.
“Leaders of every kind — teachers, law enforcement officers, government officials, business owners, university presidents — must confront antisemitism head-on,” Ted Deutch, chief executive officer of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) said in a statement when the FBI report was released.. “Jews are being targeted not just out of hate, but because some wrongly believe that violence or intimidation is justified by global events.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Dozens of Celebrities Call for Ceasefire, Help Raise $2 Million for Gaza Palestinians at Benefit Concert
Billie Eilish and Finneas receive Album of the Year Award for “Hit Me Hard and Soft” during the iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, March 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
A star-studded list of celebrities helped raise money for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid the Israel-Hamas war as part of a fundraising campaign and benefit concert that took place at London’s Wembley Arena on Wednesday.
Ahead of the ‘Together for Palestine” concert, the campaign released a video featuring dozens of celebrities who called for a ceasefire in Gaza and to “stop the killing” of Palestinians during the ongoing war. They included Grammy-winning artists Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, Oscar winners Cillian Murphy, Joaquin Phoenix, Javier Bardem, and Penelope Cruz; “Outlander” star Caitriona Balfe; Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai; and Scottish actor Brian Cox.
“We have to tell the truth on behalf of the people of Palestine,” Cox said in the video.
“It’s important to speak out now, not when this is over, right now, while it’s happening, pressurize your government. Lend your support to those who are peacefully campaigning for Palestine. Call for a ceasefire, stop the killing,” added British comedian and actor Steve Coogan in the clip.
The video also included appearances by “The White Lotus” star Natasha Rothwell, “Bad Sisters” star Sharon Horgan, and “Weapons” actor Benedict Wong. It was released mere hours before the “Together for Palestine” benefit concert at Wembley Arena, which raised more than £1.5 million ($2 million). The event included performances from Bastille, James Blake, Jamie xx, and PinkPantheress, and Palestinian artists such as Sama’ Abdulhadi, Saint Levant, and Nia Barghouti, who is the daughter of Omar Barghouti, a leader of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
Paloma Faith performed live wearing a dress made from a Palestinian keffiyeh. The event also featured a pre-recorded performance by Annie Lennox of her new song “Why? – For Gaza,” which she sang while wearing a T-shirt that said, “Let Gaza Live.”
The event, which was livestreamed on YouTube, was organized by British artist Brian Eno, who read the poem “Oh Rascal Shildren of Gaza” by Palestinian writer Khaled Juma. Speakers at the event included actors Richard Gere, Florence Pugh, and “Bridgerton” stars Nicola Coughlan and Charithra Chandran. Benedict Cumberbatch recited a Palestinian poem while broadcaster Mehdi Hasan led the audience in chanting “You can’t bomb the truth away.”
British-American documentarian Louis Theroux claimed on stage that Palestinians are “living under military occupation [and are] subject to slow, grinding relentless violence.” French former soccer player Eric Cantona called for Israeli athletes to be banned from all soccer competitions around the world, including FIFA and UEFA matches.
“I know that international football is more than just sport,” said the former Manchester United player. “It’s cultural; political. It’s soft power in the way that a country represents itself on a global stage. The time has come to suspend Israel from that privilege.” His comments elicited loud applause from the audience.
“FIFA and UEFA must suspend Israel,” he added. “[Soccer] clubs everywhere must refuse to play Israeli teams. Current players everywhere must refuse to play against Israeli teams … it’s time for everyone to get off the sidelines.” When Cantona asked the audience if they agreed that Israelis should be boycotted from all soccer matches, they replied in unison, “Yes!”
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories said, “Palestinians continue to suffer while our governments turn a blind eye, or worse – they are complicit. They trade weapons. They host Israeli officials.” Both Pugh and Coughlan criticized their colleagues in Hollywood for staying silent about “grave violations of human rights in Gaza.”
“Silence in the face of such suffering is not neutrality. It is complicity. And empathy should not be this hard and it should have never been this hard,” said Pugh. She also applauded Nia’s Bargouti’s performance at the concert in an Instagram story. In the caption of the post, she told Bargouti that “[you] sang so beautifully and so powerfully considering the weight and meaning of this evening. I was blown away by your strength.”
Others who made an appearance at the event included actress Jameela Jamil, “Love Island” host Laura Whitmore, and the “Chicken Shop Date” YouTuber Amelia Dimoldenberg.
“Together For Palestine” said all ticket proceeds from the benefit concert will be given to Palestinian-led organizations on the ground in Gaza, through Choose Love, a British charity that supports humanitarian workers in conflict zones. The groups that will benefit from Wednesday’s concert include Taawon, which runs orphan care programs in Gaza, the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.
Israel has long expressed concern that Hamas steals much of the humanitarian aid that is sent into Gaza for its own terrorist operations and to sell to Palestinian civilians at inflated prices.