Friday, October 09, 2026

10/08 Links Pt1: Andrew Roberts: I documented the crimes of October 7. Too many still believe the lies of Hamas; After Oct. 7, Israel Rewrote the Rules of the Middle East

From Ian:

Andrew Roberts: I documented the crimes of October 7. Too many still believe the lies of Hamas
As the Red Army closed in on Auschwitz, the Nazis blew up the crematoria to hide the atrocities they had committed. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas did the opposite. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar ordered his fighters to film their killing and broadcast it to spread terror. With GoPro cameras strapped to their chests, they filmed themselves gleefully slaughtering, burning, and raping Israeli citizens, young and old, and uploaded the footage in real time.

In three decades writing about war, I have rarely encountered an atrocity documented in such detail. The 7 October Parliamentary Commission Report which I chaired, and the evidence that underpins it, runs to more than 300 pages. Yet the same organization that broadcast its own atrocities in real time began denying the specifics within hours. Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya told the BBC that Hamas never targeted women and children, and called footage of terrified families Israel's invention.

These same men now lead Hamas's negotiations, and their assurances sit at the heart of the diplomatic process. A movement instructed to showcase mass murder, not conceal it, cannot expect its word to be trusted - least of all on disarmament. Disarmament cannot depend on assurances. It must be verified: inspectors must have access to every depot and tunnel, a timetable must be published, and each missed checkpoint must trigger consequences, not renewed negotiation.

Hamas leaders have vowed to repeat Oct. 7 "again and again" until Israel is destroyed. Those are not the words of a movement reconciled to peace, but of one waiting for its next opportunity. Peace does not require trusting Hamas; it requires ensuring Hamas no longer has the means to break it.
Bret Stephens: When Criticism of Israel Goes Off the Rails
Zealous criticism of Israel goes off the rails when it somehow imagines, or pretends, that blame for the crises in the Holy Land falls on one side alone and that Israel's security challenges are either a product of its imagination or payback for its own policies.

Israel came into existence with its enemies avowing its extermination, and nearly eight decades later those intentions remain unchanged.

The experience of Israelis in this century is that every time they have vacated territory, whether in southern Lebanon in 2000 or Gaza in 2005, they have gained neither international grace nor physical security.

Instead, their retreats created staging grounds for the kind of horror that so many Israelis experienced firsthand on and after Oct. 7 - horrors that many of the world's so-called humanitarians and justice-seekers chose to celebrate, downplay or flat-out deny.

Constant critics of Israel might try to remember that Israelis aren't simply hallucinating their own peril.
Weaponizing the charge of genocide fuels an increasingly dangerous antisemitism
Genocide, the intentional annihilation of a group of people, is the gravest of crimes. As malicious actors weaponize the term and endanger Jews everywhere, meticulous use of the charge is more essential than ever.

We are honored to serve as the current and former chairs of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, an institution memorializing history’s most well-documented genocide: Nazi Germany and its collaborators’ attempt to systematically murder every Jewish man, woman and child in Europe. They almost succeeded. Two-thirds of European Jews – 6 million – were killed. The global Jewish population has yet to recover, with fewer Jews alive today than in 1939, when World War II began.

Holocaust survivors fervently hoped antisemitism would wither when Germany was defeated and its crimes exposed. Yet, they knew from centuries of persecutions long before the Nazis, this ancient hatred is impossible to eradicate. Even so, after World War II, antisemitism became socially unacceptable. The shocking reactions from many quarters to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, three years ago, show this is no longer the case.

On that day, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel intending to murder as many Jewish people as possible, bringing about the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. As Israel defends itself, we reiterate our wholehearted conviction that Israel has not committed genocide, reflecting the United States government’s consistent and prevailing view. Rescuers and police escort elderly woman and others after synagogue terror attack in Manchester.

At the same time, we cannot forget the terrible tragedy many innocent Gazans have experienced as a result of the war. The loss of tens of thousands, including many children, is horrific.

As we mourn so many innocent lives lost, we cannot ignore that Hamas puts civilians in harm’s way as a central part of its strategy to demonize Israel. Despite this deadly strategy, Israel has made efforts to warn civilians when to evacuate, provide food and relief, and facilitate vaccine distribution.

Israel, like any country, is not exempt from criticism. And yet, whether out of ignorance or malice, people from all walks of life, often with little knowledge or legal expertise, including in the specific definition of genocide, continually wield the term. Others weaponize it to delegitimize the world’s only Jewish state. Regardless of their intention, the impact is a terrifying eruption of antisemitism and a more dangerous world for Jewish people everywhere.

Furthermore, state actors like Iran, Qatar, China and Russia spread antisemitic and anti-Israel conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial to stir hatred of Jews and sow chaos in democracies. They are succeeding. Antisemitism is no longer lurking at society’s fringes. It is marching openly through its institutions. Violent antisemitism is at levels not seen since the Holocaust. From Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue to Bondi Beach in Australia, to Manchester, England, and far too many other places, Jews are under deadly attack. And every day, Jews face relentless harassment and threats on streets, campuses and online.
Talk about "Genocide" Should Start with Israel's Murdered Mothers and Children
When I heard that students were planning a pro-Palestinian march through London on the third anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, I thought how grotesquely insensitive is it possible to be? What is wrong with people?

You want genocide? Young women at the Nova peace festival, half-naked, strung up from trees the better to defile them. Twin baby boys, their mother slaughtered in the kitchen, their father riddled with bullets; the orphaned babies used as bait for 14 hours, little Guy and Roi, 10 months old, left to scream so they would lure neighbors to rescue them and those brave souls were then picked off by the terrorists lying in wait. Killing parents in front of their sobbing children, then setting the house on fire so those children are burnt alive.

Here we are, three years on from one of the darkest days in history, and it's Jews - not Islamists - who are either fleeing the UK or living in fear. Their children attend heavily fortified schools and worship in high-security synagogues.

I am not Jewish, but I believe the Jews deserve and need a homeland. I hate their enemies because they are our enemies. So that makes me a Zionist. If you have any sense of what history teaches us, you should be a Zionist too. No more "Yes, buts." Today, Oct. 7, of all days, let us stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters.


After Oct. 7, Israel Rewrote the Rules of the Middle East
The most consequential results of Oct. 7 may be the transformation of Israel's national-security doctrine and the gradual destruction of the regional architecture the Islamic Republic of Iran spent decades constructing around the Jewish state. Oct. 7 exposed the catastrophic cost of deterrence without destruction, containment without elimination, and intelligence superiority without the political willingness to act upon it.

Israel can no longer afford to manage existential threats on its borders. It must dismantle the military and terrorist infrastructure that produces them. That shift is changing the balance of power across the Middle East.

Israel learned on Oct. 7 that a terrorist organization cannot safely be treated as a containable security problem simply because it appears deterred today. An adversary permitted to retain its command structure, weapons, tunnels, financing and external patron may require only an opportunity to convert latent capability into strategic surprise.

The emerging Israeli doctrine has consequently moved from periodic containment toward systematic degradation of the threat network. U.S.-Israeli cooperation in the 12-day and 40-day wars changed the equation by demonstrating that the architecture Tehran constructed outside its borders cannot necessarily protect the regime at its center.

Oct. 7 was intended to demonstrate the power of the terrorist architecture surrounding Israel. Instead, it triggered the campaign that began dismantling that architecture.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Iran Fueling Palestinian Jihad, Preventing Terrorists' Disarmament
Palestinian Islamic Jihad [PIJ] Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhala declared that his organization would remain committed to "the path of jihad and resistance," which would continue "by all possible means," as long as the "Zionist project" remains on supposedly Palestinian land.

PIJ's anniversary statement was explicit: the organization said it would continue, alongside other "resistance forces," on the path of jihad until it achieved what it calls its rights and had "liberated" its land. It described Israel as a "criminal Zionist entity."

US Treasury Department assessments have, for years, documented Iranian state sponsorship of Hamas amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. The Treasury Department has also identified Iranian funding, weapons and training for PIJ through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"Hamas continues to rely on global fundraising efforts, donations, hundreds of millions of dollars in state sponsorship from Iran, and abuse of sham charitable entities for revenue." — US Treasury Department's "2026 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment," March 2026.

The question is not whether Hamas or the other Islamist terrorist groups will agree to a temporary pause in fighting. The real question is whether these organizations are prepared to abandon their weapons and their ideology of armed struggle.

No peace plan or diplomatic initiative will succeed so long as the Iran-backed terrorist organizations retain the ability to launch another October 7 massacre.

Three years after October 7, the international community should stop asking only what Israel intends to do next. It should ask what Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and their Iranian patron intend to do next.... They keep reminding us. They intend to continue their jihad until the elimination of Israel.
Did the pager operation change the Middle East?
The pager operation, together with the elimination of Hezbollah’s leadership and the blow to the Radwan Force, formed part of a chain of events that changed the Middle East, from the revolution in Syria to the Israeli strikes against Iran. One of the main lessons was that terrorism can and must be fought without fearing its imagined power.

The Shi’ite axis was exposed in its weakness, and it became clear that it could be confronted in different arenas and through a variety of means. In Syria, this created the timing for Ahmed al-Sharaa’s revolution. He had been waiting in Idlib for an opportune moment and seized it once he understood that Hezbollah, Basher Assad’s principal ally in the region, had been weakened.

But Hezbollah has not disappeared. The large-scale military model it built before October 7 has been severely damaged: its broad plan to invade the Galilee has been neutralized, its ground forces in southern Lebanon have collapsed, and its firepower array no longer exists on the scale originally planned. Nevertheless, according to Alma Center assessments, it still possesses as many as approximately 15,000 rockets and missiles and continues to invest in expanding its drone capabilities.

In general, Hezbollah is devoting considerable efforts to its military reconstruction. It is recruiting and training new operatives, updating operational plans, gathering intelligence, and restoring weapons systems. Weapons smuggling from Syria continues, including rockets, advanced anti-tank missiles, UAVs, and additional components. At the same time, efforts are also underway to manufacture and repair weapons inside Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the failure of the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces to fulfill their commitment to disarm Hezbollah continues to be exposed time and again. Even in 2026, the organization was able to sustain several months of rocket and drone launches into Israeli territory, albeit on a smaller scale than in 2024.

Therefore, the question today is not only whether the pager operation changed the Middle East, but whether that change can be preserved and steered in the right direction.

There are two challenges: how to prevent the reconstruction of the Shi’ite axis while also preventing it from being replaced by a radical Sunni axis comprising Syria, Qatar, and Turkey. Perhaps it would be more accurate to frame the question this way: How can actors interested in reaching arrangements with Israel be strengthened, while those seeking to destroy it continue to be weakenedת and even defeated?

The international system has a significant role to play. As long as it does not adopt an uncompromising approach toward murderous ideologies, terrorism, and hatred of the West, Israel will continue to face pressure preventing it from “finishing the job” and allowing terrorist organizations to survive, rebuild, and grow stronger.

This may be the final lesson of the pager operation: even when we are stronger, and the terrorist organizations are weaker, we must not count on pulling another “rabbit out of the hat.” The pager operation was a one-time event planned over many years. Its achievement must be preserved through a consistent and sustained policy of uprooting terrorist organizations. This should be the policy in Gaza, in Lebanon, and toward Iran.

The Israeli government should lead this effort together with local actors such as the Lebanese government and international actors such as the United States.


Erin Molan: I Went Into Gaza — Above Ground and Below… Here’s What I Saw
Erin Molan goes inside Gaza — above ground and below.

In this October 7 Special, Erin travels through Gaza and into the Shuja'iyya neighborhood before descending underground into a Hamas tunnel alongside the IDF battalion commander overseeing tunnel demolition operations in the area.

What begins above ground among the destruction quickly becomes something very different beneath it.

Inside the tunnel, Erin sees the confined underground passages firsthand as the commander explains how the IDF says Hamas used parts of the tunnel network for fighters, attacks and the holding of hostages. For security reasons, the commander's face is not shown.

This is not footage from a studio or commentary from thousands of miles away. Erin is there, seeing the reality above Gaza and beneath it for herself.

Three years after October 7, this is THE WAR UNDERGROUND.
TERRORISTS in tunnels: Charlie Peters reveals Hamas hideouts in Gaza
Charlie Peters takes you inside a recently discovered Hamas tunnel complex in Gaza, showing the subterranean infrastructure built beneath civilian areas during the war.

The tunnel network contains sleeping areas, toilets, sinks, wiring, shelving, blast doors and spaces believed by accompanying IDF personnel to have been used by Hamas operatives and senior commanders.


Israeli Defense Minister: IDF Preparing for Possibility of War with Palestinian Authority
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz briefed ministers at the weekly Cabinet meeting on the military's preparations in Judea and Samaria, telling them that the IDF has been ordered to be ready for a scenario of war with the Palestinian Authority. A "reference scenario" for the IDF "stipulates that preparations must be made for the possibility of an attack by jihadist elements against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, as a lesson from the events of Oct. 7."

Katz said the IDF "is preparing for a scenario in which the Palestinian Authority security forces and the Tanzim organization affiliated with it turn their guns against Israeli civilians and IDF troops. In such a case, war would be declared against the Palestinian Authority, and the IDF would launch a comprehensive offensive in accordance with a detailed plan formulated and approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu and by me, based on the principles outlined for the IDF."

Such a campaign against the PA "would be short and forceful and would include the use of ground and air forces and special means, the elimination and expulsion of senior officials, the destruction of weapons, and the large-scale evacuation of residents and destruction of terror infrastructure inside the cities and in all refugee camps...in accordance with the Gaza and Lebanon models....There will not be an intifada lasting years as there was in the past, but rather a short and forceful war with a clear decision and a change in the reality."
Why Does the PA Fund Terrorists Instead of Building Hospitals?
For the past 20 years, the Palestinian Authority, in complete breach of the Oslo Accords, has built a massive terror army. The number of members of the PA Security Forces (PASF) has ballooned to five times the agreed size.

According to PA budget reports, from 2008 through 2025, the PA spent over $20 billion on salaries and social benefits for PASF members. Had the PA complied with its commitments, it could have saved $16 billion in salaries.

To this day, the PA does not have a modern and professional hospital, and still sends thousands of Palestinians every year to receive medical treatment in Israel. The additional money paid to cover the salaries of the PA's army could have been used to build hospitals and improve the health care of Palestinians.

In the same way that Hamas spent hundreds of millions of dollars building the Gazan terror tunnels instead of developing the "Gazan Riviera," the PA in Judea and Samaria has spent over $16 billion building a terror army, rather than providing for the basic needs of the Palestinians.
Rowan Dean: Never forget the evil of October 7
It seems like only yesterday, but it was in fact three years ago when David Adler rang me on that dreadful Saturday afternoon.

David was, of course, the head and founder of the Australian Jewish Association, now run by the very talented Robert Gregory.

David and I had been friends for several years, and he was a regular contributor to this magazine. So, it wasn’t unusual for me to get a text or a phone call from him on a Saturday, the day before my live TV show Outsiders on News24.

But this day was very different.

What had begun as shock at the first reports coming in from Israel about some kind of shootings and kidnappings at a music festival had become, over several hours, the chilling realisation as to what was occurring: the worst massacre in modern history, October 7.

I can still remember the shiver that ran down my spine that Saturday afternoon. It was a lovely sunny day, when David said to me on, I think it was the second or third call, ‘Rowan, I’ve got a really, really bad feeling about this.’

During a subsequent call, it was clear he was fighting back the tears.

But David came into the Outsiders studio in Ryde on the Sunday morning, composed but traumatised, as always, as he struggled to try and relay and comprehend to our viewers the scale of the events as we understood them at the time. I doubt David had slept a wink.

October 7 exposed, for those with eyes to see and minds to think for themselves, the utter depravity of the radical Islamist anti-Zionist so-called ‘political cause’.
October 7 was a jihad against Jews
Yet it seems that the West largely ignores the jihadist-religious core of the October 7 attack, and of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more generally. Here in Britain, institutions primarily view it through a geopolitical lens, while showing remarkably little curiosity about what jihad meant to the men who crossed into Israel for a holy war.

Britain spent the weeks after October 7 debating whether ‘jihad’ really meant jihad. When the word was shouted at an Islamist rally in London, the Metropolitan Police told the public that it could also mean an inner spiritual struggle. Indeed, jihad, an Arabic term meaning ‘striving’ or ‘struggle’ in the service of God, can be a cute, peaceful struggle to fundraise for environmental projects. But it also has a long-established violent meaning: armed struggle for a religiously defined cause. Angry protesters waving jihadi flags shortly after the massacre probably should have rung more bells.

The sanitisation was sometimes literal. In the BBC’s infamous 2025 documentary Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone references to ‘the Jews’ were repeatedly rendered as ‘Israelis’ or ‘Israeli forces’, while ‘jihad’ became ‘battle’ or ‘resistance’. A woman who spoke of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar waging ‘resistance and jihad against the Jews’ appeared in the English subtitles as saying that he was merely ‘fighting and resisting Israeli forces’.

I understand the tendency to rationalise Hamas and jihadist movements using terms rooted in geopolitics or Western post-colonial guilt. But these are dangerous projections, and one day they will clash with a very brutal reality.

Palestinian affairs expert Dr Michael Milshtein, who served as head of the Palestinian arena in the IDF military intelligence directorate and was among the lone voices warning about the misconception surrounding Hamas, explained in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Globes: ‘The attempt to impose a rational logic on Hamas’s actions reflects a fundamental misunderstanding. Whenever someone asks me that, I tell them the parable of the frog and the scorpion.

‘The scorpion asks the frog to carry him across a river. The frog says: “You’ll sting me.” The scorpion replies: “Why would I? If you drown, I drown with you.” It sounds perfectly rational. But halfway across, the scorpion stings her. As they are both sinking, the frog asks: “Why did you do that?” And the scorpion answers: “Because I’m a scorpion”.’

Hamas leaders spent years openly discussing the theological and practical implications of ‘the Promise of the End Times’, which provided the ideological ground for the October 7 attack. This is the sobering lesson for all of us: listen to your enemies – and believe them.
UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff reflects with Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV on October 7th
On the third anniversary of the atrocities of 7 October 2023, Natasha Hausdorff and Julia Hartley-Brewer mourn the deaths of victims, soldiers and truth, and the plight of Palestinian civilians while their true oppressors, Hamas, are feted in the West. They criticise failures, self-censorship and lack of integrity of some major media organisations and the resulting threat to western civilisation.


Natasha Hausdorff on calls to delist Hamas & Hizbollah, lies & distortion of international law
Natasha Hausdorff on the Kenny Report, News24 Australia, discussing calls to delist Hamas & Hizbollah, false allegations against Israel and distortion of international law.


Hugh Hewitt: 3 years and a day after 10/7, Haviv joined Hugh to assess how Israel has changed, and Haviv as well

John Podhoretz: Is the world better off today than it was 3 years ago? Is Israel? Are America’s Jews?

Eli Lake: Is the world, Israel, the U.S. and American Jews better or worse off than 3 years ago?

Commentary Podcast: Revisiting The Day After
John introduces a rebroadcast of our first show after the October 7th attacks, featuring Dan Senor, Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, and Matt Continetti.


Call me Back: Can Diaspora Jews Move On From October 7? - with Rabbi David Wolpe and Rabbi David Ingber
What does it mean for diaspora Jews to move forward from October 7th without becoming complacent or consumed by fear?

Three years after October 7th, Dan Senor sits down with Rabbis David Ingber and David Wolpe to discuss what the aftermath has revealed about Jewish life in America. They discuss the growing sense of uncertainty among diaspora Jews, the tension between Jewish values and liberal democracy, the debate over Zionism, and how Jewish communities can respond with both moral clarity and openness.

In this episode:
Why October 8th became a turning point for diaspora Jews
Has the relationship between liberal democracy and Jewish life fundamentally changed?
The Jewish community remains divided over Israel, Zionism, and Jewish self-determination
Can Jews hold onto hope without ignoring the warning signs around them?
Re: Rabbi Angela Buchdahl’s Kol Nidrei speech, does Zionism need to be reclaimed?
How do you distinguish moral clarity from paranoia when it comes to Jewish safety?
Why Jewish communities need to make room for disagreement without giving up their core values, allowing young people to enter the fold
What would it take to turn the years after October 7th into a renaissance of Jewish life?


This Is the Story of Death and Survival in Oct. 7's Yellow Dumpster
Naama Gal, 25, was in the Nova festival parking area when the first gunmen arrived. People around her started screaming: "Run! Run! They are coming." Naama spent the next 20 minutes running from gunmen before being pushed by a fellow party-goer into the large yellow dumpster, which was already crowded with a dozen others. From within their refuge, they listened to the violence around them as dozens of people were executed.

Then a terrorist opened the door of the container holding a Kalashnikov. "He was smiling," says Naama. He shouted "Allahu Akbar," then shot her friend David Newman dead. Bullets were sprayed around the container, sinking into bodies. Yiftach Dan Twig, 27, was killed instantly, alongside eight other people. Others were wounded.

Naama was hit with four bullets: two in her left thigh, one in her right thigh and one in her shoulder. When the gunman left, she reached for her phone to call her mother. "I told her on the phone: I've been shot. I love you. I am not coming back home."

At midday, Yagil Rimoni and Rom Braslavski (who was later kidnapped by Hamas and held for more than two years) managed to reach the container. "I saw Yagil's face and I screamed to him: I'm alive, help." Under gunfire, she was driven to a hospital, where she woke up two days later.

The container now forms part of a memorial site in Re'im where the massacre happened.
Israel's National Library Rushes to Archive Every Video from Oct. 7
At the National Library in Jerusalem, archivists have spent three years preserving every video, photograph, and WhatsApp message from Oct. 7.

Library staff downloaded videos circulating on Telegram the moment they were distributed, out of fear they would be deleted, and they have kept even the most difficult ones without filtering them.

"We don't have that privilege," said Maya Gan Zvi, director of the library's Oct. 7 archive.

"On October 9, 2023, we launched the documentation project for the Oct. 7 attack at the National Library. We quickly understood that the library had the professional infrastructure and the developed capabilities to handle enormous volumes of material."

"We understood we had to start collecting everything created digitally, both what survivors and victims produced during those terrible days, and what the Hamas terrorists who invaded the country created."

Still, even years from now, some of the material will not be able to be fully exposed to the general public due to its difficult content.
Three years after images of their kidnap shocked the world, Noa Argamani's ex-boyfriend describes his hell in Gaza - from seeing his girlfriend taken to a daring escape bid and the miracle when his faith saved him
The scream is what the world remembers. Noa Argamani is on the back of a motorcycle, being driven towards Gaza, her arms outstretched as she cries: 'Don't kill me.'

That image, splashed across the front page of the Mail on Sunday, became famous around the world.

A few yards away, her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, 33, is being frog marched through the fields by men from Gaza and utterly helpless.

The footage lasts only seconds. But it would become one of the defining images of the October 7 attack, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, leaving 1,200 dead and 251 hostages taken into Gaza.

Now, on the third anniversary of that day, Or has described for the first time how he and Argamani, his girlfriend of more than a year, fled the Nova music festival before being torn apart for more than two years.

Or has also revealed how he endured years in isolation deep beneath Gaza and secretly dug his own tunnel in a desperate attempt to escape — only to be caught and brutally tortured by his captors.

He tells of his daring escape attempt and his time in captivity in his newly released memoir, 'Through the Earth,' an immediate number one bestseller in Israel soon to be translated into English.

'We drove out from the festival area and we tried to get to the main road,' Or told us.

'They started shooting at us, and then we turned around and drove into the field. And we found this place and we hid inside this ditch.'

For roughly two hours, the couple remained hidden in silence.

'Actually, we didn't speak,' Or said. 'While we were in the car, I thought—I don't know—I'm proud of her because she did very, very well. She didn't get stressed and she kept very cool.

'I told her: "Nice job, and I'm very proud of you." And when we were hiding, we were just quiet, without speaking, with our eyes.'

At around 10.30am, they heard dreaded footsteps and Arabic.

'I heard one guy come to us,' Or recalled. 'I heard the steps. And then we knew we would be found. When he saw us he shouted: 'There are Jews here.''

Or said he heard Argamani scream and tried to help her escape, but the couple were surrounded.

'Suddenly, I heard Noa scream, and I turned around and I tried to just get to her—I tried to help her to escape,' he said. 'Many were surrounding us. They started to take us into Gaza.'

The couple were marched on foot for about 15 minutes. As they moved towards the border, Or says he kept looking upwards, desperately searching the sky for an aircraft and the ground for any sign of Israeli forces.

But he didn't see anything.

Then, when they were perhaps 100 or 200 metres from the border, a motorcycle arrived and Argamani was taken away.


Deborah Lipstadt calls London Mayor’s 7 October statement ‘revolting’
Deborah Lipstadt has described Sadiq Khan’s statement on the third anniversary of the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust as “revolting’.

The former US antisemitism envoy expressed her disgust after London’s Mayor used the commemoration of the 7 October 2023 Hamas terror atrocities to call out the “reprehensible actions of the Israeli government”.

Lipstadt is one of the world’s foremost authorities on Holocaust history, famous for her service on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and her successful legal defence against Holocaust denier David Irving.

In his statement, the Mayor of London initially acknowledged “all the innocent victims whose lives were cruelly taken and unimaginably changed on October 7” but goes on to add that the day is “also a moment to reflect on the unfathomable suffering and killing of Palestinians over the last three years, both in Gaza and in the West Bank.”

He adds that the “UK government is right to call out the reprehensible actions of the Israeli government” and says the “prospect of a two-state solution” is “critical not only for upholding Palestinian human rights but for ending the cycle of killing and bloodshed” in the region.

Writing in response to a repost of Khan’s comments by X account @JoosyJew, which circled his sentence and added the reply: “Today’s not that moment at all”, Lipstadt added, “”we will see more of it and not just in NYC and London”.

An official at the Israeli Embassy in London told Jewish News: “It is completely inappropriate for the Mayor of London to have tainted his statement today by pivoting to attacking the state of Israel. He should be standing with Jewish Londoners in expressing his solidarity with those who lost friends and family members on that day and are deeply concerned about growing antisemitism in his city. Pro-terrorism hate marches will be taking place today on his streets and we await his condemnation of them.”


WSJ Editorial: Celebrating Hamas on Oct. 7
After his perfunctory mention of the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, used Oct. 7, 2026, as another opportunity to libel Israel. He unleashed a stream of propaganda, much longer, about Israel's "ongoing genocide," "so-called ceasefire," "apartheid" and "war crimes" - with Hamas disappearing from the picture.

He passes off the Hamas-supplied Gaza casualty figure as if all the dead were civilians, not bothering to mention that at least 25,000 were combatants. To do so would be to admit that Israel waged a war, not a genocide, with a civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio well within historical precedents for difficult urban warfare. For the same reason, he also has to omit that Hamas fought from hospitals, schools and mosques, posed as journalists, and built an unprecedented military tunnel system under Gaza's cities.

It betrays a particular ugliness to smear Israel to mark Oct. 7, the day Hamas started the war by deliberately massacring Jews. It killed nearly 1,200 of all ages in scenes reminiscent of Nazi death squads. Israel fought back after Oct. 7 to lift existential threats. But the antisemitism unleashed again three years ago is still with us. Defeating it remains the West's duty.
Pro-Israel Democrats blast Mamdani for Oct. 7 anniversary statement
Several Democratic lawmakers blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday for his statement on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel — which focused primarily on condemning Israel, the war in Gaza and Jerusalem’s alleged “ongoing genocide” and “apartheid.”

“He basically said ‘The Jews that died, sad, but it’s their fault,’” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said on X. “He needs the city’s antisemitism policy for himself. Just an atrocious statement.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) accused Mamdani of “[d]esecrating the memory of murdered, innocent Jews today of all days and refusing to even condemn Hamas,” calling the mayor’s statement “obscene.”

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who lost his primary race in part due to his support for Israel, said that Mamdani’s statement was “reprehensible.”

“In the guise of ‘grieving’ with those mourning that day, Mayor Mamdani asserts as fact hotly disputed allegations that he knows full well will offend and further upset those same people he pretends to grieve with,” Goldman said. “On this day of all days, the Mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel embraces extreme activism instead of balanced leadership.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) accused Mamdani of worsening Jews’ pain.

“Mr. Mayor, you’re right that today is painful for Jews. You’re also the one making it worse,” Gottheimer said. “Blame the victims. Trash Israel. Wife likes posts cheering the attack. Thanks for the clarity.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) did not explicitly mention Mamdani, but condemned critics of Israel who used the anniversary as an opportunity to bash Israel.

“The world demonizes Israel 365 days a year,” Torres said. “Perhaps, for just one day—October 7th—the critics of Israel could take a vacation from their hysterical hatred of the world’s only Jewish State and find it within themselves to express condolences for the thousands of Israelis murdered, maimed, mutilated, raped, and abducted at the hands of Hamas.”
Mamdani tells interviewer a lesson of Oct. 7 is Israel responded by ‘initiating a genocide’ that ‘has continued to this day’
In an interview that aired on Wednesday, Errol Louis of Spectrum News NY1 asked Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, about the lessons of the day.

“This is going to air on Oct. 7, the anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Second World War,” Louis said. “What do you think are the lessons from that day?”

“I think when we’re talking about the third anniversary of Oct. 7, we’re talking about the third anniversary of a horrific war crime, where Hamas killed more than 1,000 people, kidnapped hundreds more,” Mamdani responded. “We’re also talking about the anniversary of when the Israeli government responded to that by initiating a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza that has continued to this day.”

“It has killed tens of thousands of people, and we know that throughout its time, it has been one that has been financed by our tax dollars,” the mayor said.

“And the lesson of that is?” Louis said, according to a transcript that City Hall released. “I mean, that’s a description of what happened.” (JNS sought comment from Louis and NY1 about whether he was saying that Israel committed “genocide.”)

The mayor responded that “I think the lesson for all of us is that humanity has to be something that we believe in in its fullest sense.”

“We have to protect it, and we have to be able to call an atrocity what it is and fight for a future where everyone is protected, no matter who they are, where they come from,” Mamdani said. “As the mayor of our city, my job on Oct. 7, my job every day, is to ensure that we’re keeping people safe, and when it comes to Oct. 7 specifically, we are going to be increasing security at vulnerable sites across the city.”
Mamdani dined at NYC Palestinian restaurant blasted for ‘openly genocidal’ menu on Oct. 7 anniversary
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dined at a Palestinian restaurant chain blasted for being “openly genocidal” against Jews on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. Hizzoner ate dinner at Ayat Hinds Hall on the Upper West Side — part of a chain whose sister restaurant in Brooklyn was blasted for featuring a menu section entitled “From the River to the Sea,” in the wake of the 2023 attacks. The restaurant is named after Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian child who was killed by IDF forces in Gaza in Jan. 2024, and also pays homage to the anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University, who renamed Hamilton Hall “Hind’s Hall” when they took over the building. In Dec. 2023, the Middle Eastern eatery made headlines when its menu was blasted by critics for being “openly genocidal” despite owners Abdul Elenani and Ayat Masoud insisting they were not calling for the eradication of Israel. “From the river to the sea” is deemed an antisemitic call for the destruction of the Jewish state by the Anti-Defamation League, and is a favorite chant for anti-Israel activists.


Mamdani booed, berated by anti-Israel protesters waving Hamas flags at NYC Oct. 7 memorial: ‘Shame on you’
Mayor Zohran Mamdani was berated and booed at an Oct. 7 candlelight vigil in Union Square on Wednesday night by anti-Israel protesters who believe he turned his back on Palestinian causes.

Hizzoner, with a candle in hand, was heckled by the angry mob, including some waving Hamas and Hezbollah flags, who marched from City Hall to crash the event meant to honor Jewish victims killed by Hamas terrorists — and Palestinians in the subsequent war.

“You coward!” some of the keffiyeh-clad agitators shouted at Hizzoner. “How do you let this happen?”

“Zohran you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” the protesters yelled in unison.

Other chants included “Mayor Mamdani take a stand. Stop the sale of stolen land” and “Shame on you.”

Mamdani remained stoic despite the disruptions as he stood alongside ex- City comptroller Brad Lander during the solemn memorial.

Tamar Glazerman, co-founder of Israelis for Peace, called the Union Square vigil “a difficult night, heckled by a few hundred counter-protesters.”


Hasan Piker backs anti-Israel hecklers who accosted Mamdani at Oct. 7 vigil — to the delight of critics
Firebrand socialist streamer Hasan Piker backed the anti-Israel protestors who heckled Mayor Zohran Mamdani during an Oct. 7 vigil at a Manhattan park — prompting critics to chuckle that the left was “eating itself.”

“The f–k? What the hell is going on in New York City, man?” Piker, 35, said on a livestream Wednesday while watching footage of Mamdani attending a memorial in Union Square organized by Isrealis for Peace.

“This was the vigil? I thought it was the pro-Palestine rally… it was an Israeli rally? Israelis for peace? The f–k? a dumbfounded Piker groaned.

“There ain’t no way that Zohran presented that as the pro-Palestine rally,” Piker added, covering his face with his hands and letting out a long groan. “Oh, that’s disastrous.”

His distress came after agitators chanted “We charge you with genocide” at Hizzoner for attending the candlelight vigil that commemorated both Jews murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, and Palestinians killed in the ensuing war.

And just as the heckling mob — some of whom shouted “You coward!” — weren’t satisfied with Mamdani offering the slightest nod to the roughly 1,200 Israelis killed during the bloody terror attack, Piker lamented the mayor was turning his back on the pro-Palestine movement.

“He’s fallen for the Goldilocks-zone trap, which is if you try to please both sides you’re gonna please neither side,” Piker said. “If Zohran had followed through on at least some of the promises he made I think there’d be less … reaction.”


Terror group's flag is waved in Sydney at radical pro-Palestine rally held on the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel
A flag linked to a terrorist organisation and a tribute to slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar were displayed at a pro-Palestinian vigil on the anniversary of the October 7 attack.

Dozens of people gathered in Sydney on Wednesday night for the event organised by Jews Against the Occupation '48.

An activist brandished a poster depicting slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who is widely regarded as the architect of the October 7 attack on Israel in 2023.

The co-ordinated bloody surprise attack on a music festival and the surrounding communities in southern Israel was carried out by the group which controls Gaza.

The terrorists killed about 1,200 people, mostly innocent civilians, which in turn triggered a massive, long-running bombing campaign from Israel on Palestine as retaliation.

During the vigil, there was a flag bearing the emblem of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a socialist group designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, Canada and the European Union.

It appeared alongside a banner referencing Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the military codename used by Hamas for its October 7 attack.

The PFLP publicly backed the assault at the time, with a statement published on its website on the day of the attack urging Palestinians to take part in the operation.


Columbia University under fire for bizarrely naming cafeteria's pasta sauce 'October 7th Blush sauce'
Columbia University has been slammed for serving an ‘October 7th Blush Sauce’ in its dining hall on the third anniversary of the Hamas terror attacks on Israel.

The Ivy League school updated its dining hall menu Wednesday with four distinct pasta sauces: Marinara, Turkey Bolognese, Garlic Oil and its controversial ‘October 7th Blush Sauce,' according to a post on X.

It appeared under the cafeteria’s ‘pasta station’ as ‘today’s special,’ exactly three years after Hamas led an attack that became the deadliest day in Israel’s history.

The post immediately triggered intense backlash, with dozens accusing the university of intentionally choosing the name 'Blush Sauce' and speculating that it was a reference to the blood of those killed in the attack.

'What does "blush" sauce mean in the context of the massacre on October 7?' one comment read.

Another said: 'This is not only nauseating but conspicuously cruel and insane.'

'So they're symbolically serving up the blood of October 7 victims? WT absolute F?' a third wrote.

One added: 'Wait, is this a joke? Someone needs to be fired over this. This is outrageous!'


How the Oct. 7 Crisis Rewired Israel's Defense Tech Ecosystem
Three years after the deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7, Israel's defense tech ecosystem looks fundamentally different from what it was before the war. It is larger, faster, more integrated with the military, and more mission-driven.

Before the war, Israel was already a global center for defense innovation. Yet much of the start-up ecosystem remained oriented toward civilian markets, particularly cybersecurity.

Within weeks and months, reservists returning from Gaza and engineers working in tech companies began identifying problems they had encountered firsthand.

The result was a new generation of companies building counter-drone systems, autonomous platforms, artificial intelligence, battlefield communications, electronic warfare, robotics, intelligence, and logistics.

The Israeli defense tech ecosystem has grown from 160 companies before Oct. 7 to over 300 today. Private investment surged from $1 billion in 2025 to $3 billion in 2026.

AI and machine learning became central tools for anomaly detection, drone swarm prediction, real-time battlefield analytics, and automated threat classification.

Autonomous ground vehicles, robotic logistics, and battlefield medical systems advanced rapidly. Cyber defense also intensified.

Bureaucratic barriers fell, procurement processes were streamlined, and wartime urgency shortened development cycles dramatically. Technologies that once took years to test and certify were deployed within months.
Hamas used double agents, deception to fool Israel ahead of October 7 massacre, study finds
Hamas’s leadership planned to use strategic deception to lull Israel into a false sense of security before the October 7 attacks, activating double agents as late as the eve of the invasion to feed the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) false information, as revealed in a new study by Lt.-Col. (res.) Yehonatan Duhoch-Halevi published on Wednesday by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA).

A core part of Hamas’s strategy was conceived in early 2022 and sought to create the impression that Israel’s “carrot and stick” policy, which combined threats to assassinate senior Hamas leaders with economic relief for Gaza, was working, according to the research.

Through the evening of October 6, Israeli intelligence was fed the impression that conditions in Gaza were routine, thus allowing Hamas to conceal its plans while arming and concentrating its forces, according to a senior figure in Hamas’s military wing.

According to the terrorist’s testimony, Hamas identified an Israeli espionage network in 2017 and was able to recruit some members of the network to become double agents operating under Hamas’s direction.

The IDF investigation into the failures leading up to the massacre noted that, on October 6, indications of a Hamas attack were received alongside reassuring signs, although the investigation did not explain what those reassuring signs were. The Shin Bet investigation reported that “human intelligence sources,” or intelligence agents, had confirmed that the terror group was operating routinely.

Hamas officials have since acknowledged the use of deception as part of the preparations for the attack. In a late 2023 interview with Ammar Taqi, senior Hamas official Khaled Mashal admitted that, ahead of October 7, Hamas carried out strategic and tactical deception, including conveying "reassurance" messages.

“Regarding the aspect of strategic deception and the method of deception, as I mentioned, there was a general feeling that [Gaza] [under Hamas leadership] was focusing on its affairs, and wanted to bring in a certain amount of fuel, electricity and aid, meaning [Gaza] was licking its wounds and pains because of the blockade imposed on it, and after the 21 war [Hamas] did not respond to the escalation [in actions] carried out by the occupation in al-Quds and Al-Aqsa,” Mashal said.

“For example, as I mentioned, during the previous Ramadan, in this year 2023, on days 13 or 14 in the middle of Ramadan, they [the Israelis] broke into Al-Aqsa, and the public [wondered] where was Gaza? The enemy began to analyze and thought that Gaza was occupied with itself. The holidays came from September 15 to October 6 [2023], and then, behold, the movement's leadership wisely sent deception messages to the enemy once again. We know some of them.”
Since Oct. 7, 31,500 Rockets, Missiles, and Drones Have Been Launched at Israel
The IDF on Wednesday published new data about its operations on all fronts during the past three years of multifront war.

The IDF carried out strikes on 100,000 targets, including 65,000 in Gaza, 28,000 in Lebanon and Syria, 4,500 in Iran, and 80 in Yemen.

The IDF killed over 24,000 combatants in Gaza and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the Oct. 7 onslaught.

Since the beginning of the war, 31,500 rockets, missiles, and drones have been launched at Israel from multiple fronts, including 10,200 fired from Gaza - 5,000 on Oct. 7 alone. There were 20,000 from Lebanon, 50 from Syria, 90 from Yemen, and 1,200 from Iran.

These figures did not include thousands of rockets launched from Gaza that misfired and landed in the Strip, those launched by Hizbullah that landed short in Lebanon, and ballistic missiles launched by Iran that failed to reach Israel.


IDF soldier killed, 3 others wounded after Humvee overturned in southern Lebanon
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed and three others were wounded in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the military announced.

The slain soldier was identified as Capt. Eliav Haim Tzapalamus, 21, from Haifa, who served in the 7th Armored Brigade.

The IDF said the wounded soldiers were evacuated to a hospital, and their families had been notified.

The casualties occurred when an IDF Humvee overturned during operational activity in southern Lebanon. An investigation was launched into the incident.

Including Tzapalamus, 41 IDF soldiers and one Defense Ministry civilian contractor have been killed in southern Lebanon amid fighting against Hezbollah since hostilities escalated amid the Iran war, which began on February 28.

Two civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling. Illustrative: An Israeli soldier rides in a military vehicle in an area occupied by Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, July 9, 2026. (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)

In Lebanon, the Israeli military has said that it has killed more than 2,500 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, since early March.

Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told AFP on Thursday that the bloc was in favor of extending the mandate of United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon, which is set to expire this year.

“Our member states have been saying that there can’t be any security vacuum in southern Lebanon, so everybody is worried about the UNIFIL mandate ending,” she said in an interview during a visit to Lebanon, where she met senior officials.

“It would be most welcomed if this mandate is extended, so that is the position of the member states,” she added.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which now counts some 7,500 personnel from nearly 50 countries, has been in place since 1978, although its presence has not prevented repeated outbreaks of conflict.

Under US pressure, the UN Security Council voted last year to end UNIFIL’s mandate on December 31, 2026.

But in March, Lebanese terror group Hezbollah drew the country into the broader Middle East war by attacking Israel, which responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says has killed more than 4,300 people, without differentiating between combatants and civilians.


Center for Jewish Legal Studies convenes symposium on ‘genocide libel’ against Israel
The Center for Jewish Legal Studies (CJLS) convened what organizers believe was the first legal symposium dedicated to combating the genocide libel against Israel. The full-day symposium took place Oct. 5 at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, in collaboration with the school’s Bluhm Legal Clinic, which now funds and runs targeted antisemitism-related work through the new Siegel Fund to Combat Antisemitism.

The symposium brought together historians, law professors and practitioners to examine where the accusation that Israel is committing genocide originated, how it spread through academia and international institutions and how it is used to justify exclusion, harassment and discrimination against Jews.

CJLS co-founder Rona Kaufman, the conference chair and an associate professor of law at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University, opened the day with Marjorie Berk Moss, director of the Social Work Advocacy Program (SWAP) at the Bluhm Legal Clinic. Norman J.W. Goda, professor of history and Jewish studies at the University of Florida, traced the genocide claim’s history.

Claire O. Finkelstein, professor of law and philosophy and founder of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, addressed human shields and the law of armed conflict. Kaufman then spoke on “The Genocide Libel: Justifying Discrimination and Violence Against Jews,” showing how anti-Zionism has long been bound up with hatred of and discrimination against Jews. Yael Vias Gvirsman, founder and director of the International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic at Reichman University’s Harry Radzyner Law School and founder of October 7 Justice Without Borders, addressed justice for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

In the afternoon, CJLS co-founder Andrea J. Martin, assistant professor of law at Penn State Dickinson Law, asked, “Can International Law Protect Jews as a People?” She identified a recurring pattern in the Jewish experience with law: a false narrative enters the law and acquires the appearance of legitimacy, a process she analogized to money laundering and called “juridical narrative laundering.” Jeffrey Herf, professor emeritus of history at the University of Maryland, College Park, examined the disappearance of Hamas’s agency in the accusations against Israel. He also criticized American media coverage as one-sided, arguing that major outlets have largely failed to publish historians’ work that would give the public more accurate accounts.

Sabrina Soffer, co-author of Of Good Courage with Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter and a speechwriter to the ambassador at the Embassy of Israel to the United States, as well as a scholar at the Jerusalem Center for Security for Foreign Affairs, spoke on “The Legitimation of a Lie: Postmodernism, Academia, and the Genocide Charge.” Kaufman and Martin closed with a session on building Jewish legal studies as a field.

The symposium included a public evening program featuring U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman of the Southern District of Florida in conversation with dean Zachary D. Clopton of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. The two discussed Altman’s The New York Times bestseller, Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law, which tests the most serious accusations against Israel, including colonialism, apartheid and genocide, against the historical record and the elements the law requires.


Rubio dismisses Amnesty criticism over Iran war, calls organization ‘a fraud’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sharply rejected criticism over alleged American war crimes during the conflict with Iran on Wednesday, calling Amnesty International “a fraud” and arguing that the organization should instead focus on alleged abuses committed by the Iranian regime against its own people.

Rubio was responding to a question concerning US military activity involving Portugal’s Lajes Air Base, including flights by refueling aircraft, fighter jets, and drones, and whether the Portuguese government had been informed about the nature of the mission.

Asked about an internal process involving Portugal’s public prosecutor, Rubio said he could not comment.

“I can’t comment on that. That’s your internal process, so that’s not up to us to comment on,” Rubio said.

He then turned to Amnesty International.

“Amnesty International is a fraud,” Rubio said. “If you’re asking me what I think, what Amnesty International thinks, you know what I think Amnesty International should be focused on? An Iranian regime that murdered in cold blood tens of thousands of people in the streets of Tehran and other parts of the country.”

Rubio also accused the Iranian regime of targeting wounded protesters inside hospitals.

“What Amnesty International should focus on is how the Iranian regime goes into hospitals when protesters are injured and murders the people in their hospital bed, and, by the way, sometimes murders the doctors or the nurses who treated them,” he said.

“Those are war crimes. Those are crimes against humanity, and those are crimes they’re committing against their own people.”


The New York Times Had 365 Days to Publish This. It Chose October 7.
I Have Been Here With Alghorra Before
Alghorra himself is no stranger to HonestReporting.

Following his award of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography, I raised serious questions about aspects of his winning portfolio, including how certain photographs were obtained, selective framing and the context missing from the images.

There was another Alghorra photograph that deserves to be remembered.

In July 2025, The New York Times prominently featured Alghorra’s photograph of severely emaciated 18-month-old Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq to illustrate starvation in Gaza.

Five days later, the newspaper added an editor’s note acknowledging that the child had pre-existing medical conditions affecting his brain and muscle development. Now Look at the Date

I don’t need to speculate about Saher Alghorra’s relationship with Hamas.

I don’t know what it is.

I don’t know what arrangements have enabled particular photographs.

Where the evidence ends, so does my claim.

But I know what The New York Times chose to publish.

And I know when it published it.

October 7, 2026.

There were 365 days available for a New York Times film about Gaza rebuilding after the war.

They chose the anniversary of the day Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel, murdered families in their homes, slaughtered young people at a music festival, raped and brutalized victims, and took hostages back into Gaza.

The photographs of that day are burned into Israel’s memory.

Some were taken by Gaza photographers who crossed into Israel during the attack. International news organizations subsequently published their work. HonestReporting has spent three years examining what those photographers witnessed, how they got there, what they photographed, and what happened to those images afterward.

Only the other day, I wrote about those questions in an article on October 7 and photojournalism ethics⁠.

So when The New York Times puts one of its most celebrated Gaza photographers in front of the camera on October 7 and asks its audience to look at Gaza through his eyes, I notice.

Not because Gaza should not be photographed.

I have spent my life believing the opposite.

I notice because newspapers make choices.

Picture editors make choices.

Social media editors make choices.

Someone chose the photographs.

Someone edited the film.

Someone scheduled the post.

And somebody at The New York Times looked at the calendar.

October 7 already has a story.

The New York Times chose another one.
Reuters Savaged Over Video Posted On October 7 Anniversary
Reuters marked the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 massacre by posting footage of battered buildings and areas of Gaza.

The global news agency shared a video Wednesday showing Gaza City flattened by Israel’s military campaign. The war was Israel’s response to the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust. The caption simply described it as a view of Gaza City on the October 7 anniversary, with no mention of the 1,200 people Hamas slaughtered or the 251 hostages it dragged into the enclave.

The backlash was swift.

Conservative commentator Dana Loesch posted a photo of the memorial set up for the victims who were killed by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival and blasted Reuters for not highlighting that site in its post.

“View of the Nova site, three years later. The response in Gaza happened because they chose to brutalize and butcher their neighbor. Again. And again. And again,” Loesch wrote.

Media watchdog HonestReporting blasted the post on X, writing, “The anniversary of Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 people and abduction of 251, and this is how you mark the day? Speechless.”

Social media users savaged Reuters. One social media user posted, “Do you have a view of kibbutz Be’eri by any chance?” Another wrote, “Seriously? Are you kidding me? This is how you honor the thousands of innocent men women and children that were murdered on that day and the hundreds of hostages that were taken? And you want to be seen as credible? What a pathetic excuse for a news organization.”

Others circulated the images Reuters didn’t show, including footage from October 7 of Gazans cheering in the streets as terrorists paraded the bodies of slain Israeli women.

Critics say the post fits a pattern with Reuters.


The Wrong Perpetrator: CNN Shifts Blame for the Hostage Crisis From Hamas to Israel
Within days of Hamas’ terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, the IDF’s mission was twofold: bring all the hostages home and root out Hamas from Gaza. The task, given the vast terrorist infrastructure embedded in the Gaza Strip, was undoubtedly a difficult one, but nonetheless one of vital importance.

It is thus not only misleading, but deceptive to present the IDF as having acted recklessly, as done in CNN’s “Netanyahu says he brought all the October 7 hostages home. These are the stories of those who didn’t come back alive.”

CNN sets this tone in the lede, where the reason the IDF was operating in Gaza at all, Hamas’ abduction of 251 people on October 7, is relegated to a subordinate clause. Instead, it presents the unfortunate death of Bedouin-Israeli hostages, Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne, as the result of an Israeli airstrike in Rafah based on anonymous sources. Meanwhile, the IDF had previously reported they were killed in captivity, yet, in CNN’s framing, the attribution to Hamas’ responsibility is nowhere to be seen.

Case after case that CNN highlights follows this very template, whereby the IDF becomes the perpetrator for having worked to save its own civilians during a war it did not start. The author’s choice to organize the article’s narrative around hostages who “didn’t come back alive” is presented through the lens of what Israel did or failed to do, while the agency of the terrorist organizations that abducted them is consistently pushed into the background. Yet these people were not casualties of an abstract military conflict. They were kidnapped by Hamas, taken into Gaza and held captive inside an environment deliberately structured around Hamas’ military infrastructure, which was notably embedded in civilian locations.

Hamas’ responsibility is also considerably watered down. CNN writes that 16 hostages were confirmed to have been killed directly by their captors. It then identifies another 11 who were killed by Israeli strikes or operations. But the article goes further, attributing a total of 24 hostage deaths to Israeli military activity – even when the cause of death was unconfirmed, or when Hamas murdered them, as with the Beautiful Six.

But Hamas did not rely only on the excuse of the approaching Israeli military to murder hostages. Survivors of Hamas captivity were repeatedly threatened with murder, while others, including a mother with her baby and toddler, were murdered in captivity.

The eight hostages who were rescued alive in daring missions by the IDF are hardly given any space – relegated to one short line in parentheses, seemingly an afterthought in such a lengthy article.





 




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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