[Note from DB: On our lawprof trip to Israel, we were offered the opportunity to watch a compilation of Hamas atrocities on October 7th. I declined. I saw just a bit of this footage back in October, and it was sufficiently searing that I did not want to revisit the experience, and I certainly needed no persuading that Hamas is a theocratic death cult that should be erased from the earth. But my colleague Adam Mossoff did watch the footage, and here is his report.]
On the third day of the legislation professor’s go to to Israel (July 11), we had the chance to observe a 45-minute video of Hamas atrocities shot on October 7, which was primarily produced with GoPro cameras worn by Hamas troopers. Nevertheless it additionally contains safety digital camera and CCTV footage. In the course of the assault, Hamas troopers uploaded their GoPro movies on-line and posted them on social media to a whole lot of 1000’s of Israeli social media accounts on October 7. Hundreds of such movies have been faraway from the online.
I will not describe or element any of the horrors of this film, so you’ll be able to learn this understanding you will not be ambushed by a nightmare that can hang-out you for the remainder of your life. I’ll say this film is horrible. In reality, it is past scary. But when one is to bear witness to evil as a way to higher defend good (Israel) and converse out towards evil (genocidal anti-Semitism and proponents of this nihilism within the West), one should know the evil of which he’s speaking. So I believe it is necessary for me to see this film, however given the stunning and disgusting content material of this film, I do not begrudge anybody to not see it.
Right here is a few background and basic details about the movie: The Israel Protection Forces produced this movie in November 2023 in gentle of worldwide denial of the atrocities dedicated by Hamas on October 7. Much like Holocaust denial to today, the despicable atrocities dedicated by Hamas on October 7 started on October 8 and proceed to today. This isn’t nearly denying the homicide of kids and infants and different struggle crimes as “Israeli propaganda.” Moreover, Hamas troopers denied the rape and sexual violence dedicated on October 7, prompting Sheryl Sandberg to make her first documentary as her personal testimony of October 7 Conduct.
Attributable to its content material, the movie was strictly managed by the Israel Protection Forces. I had a possibility to observe it final November, which I already knew, however I declined on the time. Movies can solely be considered by request, by particular invitation, or by being invited to screenings focused at a particular viewers, equivalent to political leaders or media trade representatives who’ve been invited to attend. We noticed it final week as we have been in Israel on a fact-finding mission round October seventh. element. We have been additionally not allowed to convey any digital gadgets within the room and we needed to retailer our telephones in particular lockers exterior the room.
We later discovered that not all IDF spokesmen had even seen it as a result of its safety clearance was rated “must know.” It seems that the primary motive for such excessive restrictions on the movie is compliance with the non secular guidelines of Judaism and Israeli social norms about respecting the dignity of the deceased, which I described in my earlier submit about October 7, and How Hamas intentionally sought to violate these guidelines and norms on October 7 by way of express acts of desecration and destruction of its victims. One among its greatest providers is the unrestricted launch of movies like “Evening and Fog,” documentaries in regards to the Holocaust that characteristic pits filled with corpses from Nazi movies, in addition to different physique elements or scenes of loss of life. Israel is at the moment within the midst of an existential struggle on a number of fronts, and on this emergency, the standard guidelines or norms that apply in regular life needs to be relaxed to accommodate the emergency.
As I discussed, I will not describe something I noticed within the film, however I nonetheless need to share some basic observations about it. First, the Hamas troopers confirmed pure pleasure. All through the movie, Hamas troopers chant and specific pleasure and pleasure about what they’ve finished to their victims. They weren’t torture or homicide out of necessity, nor have been they the job of troopers merely defending territory from invasion. It is apparent from the primary few moments of the movie that they are proud of what they’re doing. They celebrated today throughout and after October seventh. Hamas troopers are equally passionate and elated in regards to the horrific atrocities they intentionally dedicated on October 7, a truth they proudly unfold by making GoPro movies and sharing them with the world.
Second, the GoPro video makes it very clear that Hamas is the theocratic autocratic regime in Gaza, not only a dictatorship or an unbiased terrorist group like Hezbollah or the Houthis. Hamas troopers expressed their pleasure and pleasure by repeatedly shouting “Glory to Allah”. (“Allah Akbar!”). Folks have heard this extra instances than I can rely, though I used to be so surprised by the horror I witnessed that I could not rely on the time. Hamas is a dictatorship Islamic theocratic state that guidelines Gaza (elected to energy when Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2006 after which occupied it) Subsequently, Hamas is like Iran, the Taliban (Afghanistan), the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt from 2011 to 2013, and the Muslim Brotherhood in 2011 Islamic State in Syria and Iraq from 2013 to 2013.
It is very important perceive and absolutely admire this: October seventh shouldn’t be about any grievance over land or the Israeli authorities’s abuses of Palestinians. Hamas seeks genocide towards the Jewish individuals and Israel, as does its monetary and navy Iran, which reportedly performed a direct position within the planning and approval of the October 7 atrocities. This greatest explains the atrocities and struggle crimes of October 7.
Third, and at last, Palestinian tradition views canine as disgusting filth, which can be conveyed within the movie. I had learn some articles and a few movies earlier than about what number of stray canine in Gaza are thought of nuisances and vermin, and the way Palestinians usually kill or torture these canine. They kill or torture canine as a result of they assume canine do not even respect life. It doesn’t must be a “canine lover” like me to search out this deeply disturbing. There may be fact to the well-known saying that canine are “man’s greatest pal.”
I say this as a result of the Palestinians’ horrific view of canine is on full show in a GoPro video made by a Hamas soldier. The commonest insult one hears within the movie is second solely to the cry of “Allahu Akbar,” as Hamas troopers repeatedly scream on the Jews they shoot: “You might be canine!”
It’s a well-known truth in human historical past that those that commit mass homicide explicitly dehumanize the individuals they kill. For instance, the Nazis labeled Jews as rats, vermin, and a subspecies separate from the Aryans. Hamas is now doing this by labeling Jews canine, which can appear unusual to Westerners who’re unaware that canine apparently have a rat-like standing in Palestinian tradition. (One other instance may be discovered on this video (https://x.com/LizaRosen0000/standing/1811955884966203632…), by which an outdated Palestinian lady is interviewed and she or he says: “Jews are canine.”)
For all of those causes, the movie is especially terrifying and searing, each psychologically and emotionally. Hamas despatched 3,000 troopers to invade Israel with the intention of murdering, torturing, raping and kidnapping harmless individuals (roughly 1,450 infants, youngsters and adults). This truth is unhealthy sufficient in itself, however these troopers didn’t commit struggle crimes dispassionately or out of a way of navy responsibility. They dedicated atrocities willingly, joyfully, and with a glance of glory on their faces. This film is a window into humanity’s capability for evil, which I solely knew abstractly from historic analysis on the Holocaust or the Khmer Rouge killing fields, however to my data no Nazis or Khmer Rouge troopers Did not understand this. Hamas troopers did it.
By the top of the film, I used to be psychologically shaken. I cried and proceed to cry. My arms have been shaking and my physique felt nearly numb. I additionally felt a way of detachment from my physique and environment. I nonetheless vividly keep in mind holding my proper hand flat in entrance of my face and watching it shake like I would just overexerted myself whereas understanding on the health club, regardless that I used to be sitting immobile in an air-conditioned room. After a break we met with IDF attorneys after which continued the mission with lunch and extra conferences with attorneys from NGOs and different organizations, nevertheless it took me a couple of hours to get better from the shock.
This was every week in the past and the shock has lengthy worn off, however this film will stick with me for the remainder of my life. I hope I can now use my writing and talking abilities as a professor and advocate to assist in my very own approach with the vicious lies and propaganda of pro-Hamas activists in america and the West. Let nobody misunderstand the true that means of the slogans “From River to Sea” and “Intifada”, in addition to the that means of the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah that are actually frequently flying at protests in america and Europe. These signify a pure nihilism that many people within the West discover tough to completely comprehend. This isn’t simply anti-Semitism, and it doesn’t finish with Jews or Israel. I hope america wakes as much as this truth earlier than it continues to appease Iran resulting in Iran buying a nuclear weapon, as a result of after watching the movie of the October seventh atrocity, I believe I do know what is going to occur when it occurs.
