(Oct. 8, 2026 / JNS)
Ofir Akunis, the consul general of Israel in New York, planned to show the 47-minute documentary film of the horrific Hamas-led atrocities and killings in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, to a select audience. That included an invitation to the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani. The mayor did not attend (clearly, he must have known the contents of the film and recognized that it undermined his declared position regarding Hamas).
I was privileged to be one of the invitees. The film is made up primarily of the terrorists’ own GoPro cameras, various street cameras that were at bus stops or “Ring” doorbells, home-security cameras, dash cams from victims’ vehicles, victims who were filming with their phones before being killed, as well as documentation by a few first responders.
Naturally, all but the last group showed live action terrorism: shootings, beheadings with knives and garden spades, children suffering, hostages being trucked into the Gaza Strip and physically abused by hordes of bystanders, women who were clearly sexually abused and murdered. The responders’ videos were all taken, showing scenes the terrorists left: lots of blood, gore and bodies, many of which were burned beyond recognition.
Original poster for the “Bearing Witness to the October 7th Massacre” documentary by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, a compilation of raw footage of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit/Creative Commons via Wikimedia Commons.
Most video selfies were taken by the terrorists themselves, showing them to be joyous and gleeful—showing their dead or dying conquests with the same elation, satisfaction and pride as a fisherman beside his prize catch. There were wide, beaming smiles and lots of back-slapping. There was no discretion in exposing who these terrorists were; they were clearly proud of their accomplishments and wanted to film it in real time.
This was a religious fest, as praise for Allah was repeated over and over.
The film had an audio-only clip. A terrorist, having just killed an Israeli couple in their kibbutz, took the woman’s phone and called his parents in Gaza. First, he spoke to his father, shouting with excitement and elation about how he had just killed 10 Israelis with his bare hands. His father was praising him repeatedly. Then he asked to speak to his mother, who was crying with happiness. All three repeated the words kill, kill, kill over and over again.
It wasn’t difficult to discern and extrapolate the way this child was raised in Gaza. Did these parents commit actual murder in Israel? No. Could they be accused of murder? Definitely. They were more complicit, contributory and responsible, perhaps, than the murderer himself.
There was also much radio dialogue between the terrorists and Hamas headquarters, giving them explicit instructions, advising them to behead soldiers and to bring the heads back to Gaza to display in a central square. Dead bodies brought back were to be brandished in a crucified position.
This is the second time I saw the film; the first being at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., two years ago. The film was highly guarded, and only select invitations were given. I asked Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to Israel: Why not show the film to anyone wishing to see it? At that time, the war was raging in Gaza, and there were many claims that Israel was committing genocide and disproportionately responding. Anti-Israel and pro-Hamas demonstrations were taking place all over the United States. One look at this film, and the veracity of its contents would have made a quick open-and-shut case.
Herzog felt protecting the privacy of the victims was paramount. I, respectfully, disagreed. With very easy editing, the faces of the victims could have been made unrecognizable. Two years later, the film is still being carefully shown, and I, even more strenuously, still disagree with that decision.
Mamdani has never hidden his contemptuous disdain for Israel, accusing it of genocide, deliberate civilian killings, deliberate hospital bombings aiming specifically at women and children, deliberately targeting ambulances outside of hospitals, targeting journalists, using starvation as a tool of war and other accusations of barbaric behavior. In fact, most recently—and despite the fact that the fighting has ended—he is accusing Israel of still committing genocide.
What I find most concerning, as a New Yorker, is that the mayor’s remarks and continued blood libels will surely fall on the ears of unhinged individuals who may feel emboldened and compelled to take revenge against Israel (and New York Jewish residents are a good target). His remarks, essentially doubling down, are incendiary. Domestic antisemitism has become exponential, and Mamdani’s repeated lies and false accusations are akin to pouring 100-octane gasoline on a burning fire.
Although the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States occurred 25 years ago, watching the films of the plane crashes, the people jumping out of windows and the buildings collapsing all rekindle strong feelings. What happened on Oct. 7 is not in the visual mindset of the general public. We may have verbal and written descriptions, but they don’t do justice to Israel.
At this time, with the growing antisemitism in the world, with global accusations of untruths about Israeli military actions in Gaza following a war started by Hamas, with people like Mamdani doubling down on Oct. 7 and making repeated remarks about genocide, this movie (and others like it, perhaps more graphic and less sanitized) needs to be shown. Of course, the victims need to be respected. But not only is the welfare of the State of Israel at stake, but the welfare of global Jewry and Western civilization is also on the line.