Well, that's a hell of a column. Ten points for sitting through the 42 minutes. I don't think I could have. A lot of criticism is being levelled at Israel for not having an 'end-game' in mind with this war, that is, what happens after flattening Gaza? But I wonder even more - what the hell was Hamas thinking in terms of an end game? What was this massacre supposed to accomplish, beyond pure terror? How could Hamas not have not realized that this would spark an attack far different from any other in the past, one motivated by pure revenge? What has Hamas to show for this? Mass killing of their own people. Just complete utter madness, made worse by watching these stooges at rallies braying this crap about 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'. They have no idea what river and what sea and how it means to shove every Jew into the Med.
The only thing that makes sense to me is that Hamas' objective was to have as many Gazan civilians as possible killed by Israelis. This would explain the targetting of civilians, especially children and women, the rapes and the desecration of bodies, the taking of hostages, the orders to Gazans not to evacuate the northern part but rather to stay and "resist" and hopefully be killed.
Why did Hamas want as many civilian Gazans as possible killed? To disrupt peace negotiations between Israel and other countries such as Saudi Arabia. To increase tensions and support for Hamas. To destabilize the region. And, eventually, after destroying Israel, to install a state run along the lines of the original Muslim state of the seventh century.
Malcolm, I believe that Hamas planned for and expected pretty much what is happening right now. In fact, I believe that Hamas is pretty gleeful at the current state of affairs.
Hamas wanted the world to see Israel in a bad light and expected and still expects that the world, particularly the US, will cause Israel to stop it's campaign before the actual elimination of Hamas. Then, Hamas expected and expects that it will get terrifically significant funding (gotta keep those billionaire Hamas leaders financially healthy, you know) after the war.
For my part, I hope and pray that Hamas is wrong in that Israel does not cease the pounding of Gaza and that it does flatten Gaza and eliminate the tunnels. As for the civilians, well, folks if you don't want to be fodder then do one of two things: leave or eliminate Hamas yourselves. Two choices; awful choices but choices nonetheless.
I think that presents a choice which does not exist. Palestinians in Gaza are, in effect, stateless; they lack the paperwork (or sympathetic receiver nations) to allow them to emigrate. And eliminating Hamas is like telling the Hungarians in 1956 to get rid of their Communist overlords. The binary you offer, indeed, serves only to justify the genocide of Gazan Palestinians - which makes it even more invalid.
But I fear your analysis of the Gaza Hamas motivations are probably correct. Their neighbors are nothing more than cannon fodder, and their deaths only serve to reinforce funding for Hamas leadership. It's sickening to see such a level of cynicism directed towards one's fellows, but based on what was always an inevitable response from Israel after a civilian bloodbath, it's clear Hamas has disconnected itself from humanity. It is, however, a bloody shame that the innocent will bear the brunt of Israel's efforts to eliminate the movement.
Peter, you are - in some ways - correct. It is pretty much impossible for Gazans to rise up and get rid of Hamas - NOW. Truth is, they should have done it previously. What they can do is to go from North Gaza where Israel is concentrating it's current efforts to South Gaza.
As for your assertion that there is genocide of the Gazan Palestinians. Words matter - ask Mr. Gurney and Ms. Gerson - so I asked Mr. Google to give me the definition of genocide and Mr. Google told me, as follows: "gen·o·cide - noun - the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group."
I absolutely deny that Israel is deliberately killing people (other than Hamas - more below) with the aim of destroying Gazan Palestinians. Nope, I won't buy it. Yes, civilians do die in wars but that is different than saying that Israel is attempting to kill all Gazans, to erase them.
Now, Hamas, that is a different matter. In fact, it is Hamas who is, by hiding in civilian locations (hospitals, apartment buildings, etc.) that is bringing about the death of Gazan Palestinians. Hamas attacked Israel - horribly, barbarically, deliberately - attempting to bring about the genocide of Israelis, Jews generally and is, by their actions, responsible for the death of Gazans. If you want to argue that the death of Gazan Palestinians is genocide then you need to attribute it in the right place: it is Hamas that is responsible for that genocide.
So, again, I deny that the Israelis are committing genocide.
Two questions for you.
Firstly, do you agree or do you deny that Hamas is attempting the genocide of the state of Israel, of Israeli citizens and of Jews generally?
Secondly, I assume that you argue for genocide against Israel because Israel is not interested in a cease fire. If there was a cease fire, what reason would Israel have to believe that Hamas would honor such a cease fire given Hamas' actions on October 7 and, for that matter, in years past?
I really, really would appreciate receiving response to my questions of you.
Also Ken - to be clear - I don't think Israel is actively pursuing a genocidal motive against Palestinians in Gaza (or the West Bank, for that matter). But one can't ignore the rhetoric in the wake of the October 7 attacks from some prominent members of Israel's cabinet and military which explicitly called out the "inhumanity" or "animal" nature of Palestinians - not just Hamas, but Palestinians in general. Such statements in the immediate wake of the October 7 pogroms may be understandable, but the ways in which certain far right elements of the Israeli political world refer to and behave towards Palestinians makes it clear that - just as Hamas is an evil within Palestine - there are evil elements within the Israeli state. We can't ignore those elements or think somehow they have any justification, ever, even as we support the State of Israel in its legitimate self defence in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
Peter, a moment ago I wrote about my very poor choice of words. And I apologized to you for my stupidity.
I would note that you said, "The binary you offer, indeed, serves only to justify the genocide of Gazan Palestinians..." which did, indeed suggest to me that you view the death of Gazan Palestinians as genocide. With that in mind, I reacted as I did and used a bad word salad.
Clearly, many folks are commenting and YELLING without thinking at all. I would note that it is very easy for me as a Canadian and as a Gentile to view - shall we say, with a certain disdainful reticence - the commentary of various Israeli leaders who spoke just after the October 7 attacks and subsequently.
You make the point that some of these folks continued in their hyperbolic rhetoric after they had had a chance to reflect and you pointed out that those folks were "evil" - your word, which I do not dispute but I also believe that that "evility" [I thought I had coined that word but then I found it to already exist!] is not widespread in Israel; I believe that, I truly do.
I would, however, point out that Israel is a democracy and has earned the right for us to depend on that democracy to weed out the fools and charlatans. I would further point out that our current charlatan in chief still occupies his office eight years after assuming power so even in Canada, good sense can take time. And, finally, noting that Israel is a democracy and that one can expect that fools will be outed and dealt with, I ask you to consider that other countries in the Muddle East are dictatorships and have no mechanisms for correction of stupidity other than a bullet to the head of someone.
Ken, at this point, I think we agree on so much that it's really time we find the right place to consume cocktails and solve the Middle East problems once and for all!
Definitely Ken - and thanks for taking my comment seriously!
First to your two questions: Yes, Hamas is attempting genocide of not just the State of Israel, but of Jewish residents of the Middle East. They're explicit in that aim, and we must take them seriously and take their statements at face value. That makes them reprehensible and - as my post and other posts and online statements by me state - puts them in a kind of "guilty by their words" class of humanity.
As for assuming that I argue for genocide against Israel, I have to ask where, in any of my writings, such an assumption is justified. Nothing I have written has pointed even a little in that direction. And I ask for you - politely, but insistently - to retract such an assertion.
I think Israel has a lot of things to consider when pondering a cease fire, and not being cognisant of the tactical situation on the ground - having only access to such information as the press supplies to North Americans - I can only guess at their mixed military, political, and yes, humanitarian considerations. Do I give them the benefit of the doubt? Not so much - but I also don't claim to have better information, so I have to just observe like the rest of the world. I do trust the US and Canadian governments, however, who continue to advocate for some sort of either cease-fire, or for additional humanitarian aid access corridors in lieu of a general cease fire.
But just as you asked for a response, I have to ask you retract the idea that I at any point have argued for genocide against the Israeli people or their state.
Peter, I apologize because my wording was foolish. I said, "... I assume that you argue for genocide against Israel because ..." What I should have said was, " ... I assume that you argue that Israel is committing genocide because ..."
There is a very large difference in what I meant to say and what I very erroneously did say. I do apologize for my foolishness and I fully request that any reader substitute my corrected words for the ones that I stupidly used.
Thanks - much appreciated, Ken. I did take your post seriously and I do understand the points you're making. And I do think the IDF in particular is as scrupulous as any armed forces in trying to be unemotional in their execution of a difficult military task - who we have to remember are made up of normal men and women, who understandably will be emotional in the wake of the horrors of the October 7-8 attacks. Even while I was appalled to hear some of the comments made by right wing Israeli politicians in the wake of the attacks, I also knew that Israel - as a fundamentally liberal democracy, governed by laws which they courageously have been protesting to protect as recently as two months ago in the face of Netanyahu's attacks on judicial review - would be a nation deserving of our support and respect.
My feeling is Hamas wanted to generate a response that would lead to a large civilian body count and huge humanitarian crisis in an attempt to turn the world against Israel and harm their diplomatic goals in the region. Hamas is not fighting for the people or an independent state, they are fighting for the establishment of an Islamic Calipate where the Jewish people no longer exist . So this suits their goals and sadly seems to be working
Thank you for bearing witness. The speed with which anti-semites have been denying these atrocities has been shocking. We all know about Holocaust denial, but I never thought there would be another event of this nature, with so much footage, that people would be so quick to disregard.
Sadly, I've seen much of what you're referring to as well - shared on social/other media. It's truly appalling. I realize that the Israel/Palestine issue is long standing and I don't have the answer to that. However, it's simply IMPOSSIBLE to look at this planned, cool-ly orchestrated attack and not be both revolted - and shocked at the reaction some have had to it as some kind of moral victory. I really just don't get it.
I am aghast...unable to comment intelligently. Perhaps that video should be compelled viewing at the universities hosting and enabling anti-Semitic protests. Think UofT, York, McGill, Western, Toronto Metropolitan University.
Canada's post secondary education system is a breeding ground for Jew-haters.
I’m in bed reading this. Clean sheets, comfy pillows, nice morning breeze ... I may throw up. I am numb. I am resolved to stay alive to the truth of this horror, celebrated by the P perpetrators. I will never support P. The repugnant P protest rallies should be condemned by all educated and humane citizens. They reek of the stench of death.
Thank you Matt, for bearing witness and sharing the horror. As much as I didn't want to read it, I couldn't not read it. And I appreciate all you went through to bring it to us.
I’m bawling at my kitchen table Matt. Feeling hopeless. Sad. Beyond sad. Reading this was heartbreaking 💔 please take care of your mental health in the days and weeks to come. 🙏🏻
I'm always amazed at the bravery of ordinary people in the presence of evil. Thank you for this article Matt.
Unfortunately, 30 days in, I fear that the will of Israel's allies in the west is fading. This is led, in part, by traditional media sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians and distrustful of Israel. The daily barrage of highly emotional stories and video from Gaza is taking effect, along with compliant media parroting the Hamas-reported casualty figures .
The 'root cause' of the Gaza war is Hamas and its actions - but that seems secondary now and the blame is being placed on the Israeli 'occupation.' No one knows how this ends, but Israelis must feel very alone right now.
You're not alone about the Halloween thing. This year I couldn't bring myself to watch anything despite it being a tradition for my Dad and I to do since I was old enough to watch Abbott and Costello.
I don't know about others but I don't think I'll ever be the same after October 7th.
The pure, raw, bestial hatred in this attack and previous events is why a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is out of reach. I was very much in favor of the Palestinian cause and a 2 state solution until the 2000 intifada, where there were images of a Palestinian man cheering as he showed the blood on his hands from an Israeli police officer he'd just murdered. That was a revelation for me: there was no real strategy behind many of these attacks, it's driven by emotion and anger. We can argue over how the Palestinians got to this place, but ultimately this genocidal bent is a fact that has to be acknowledged and confronted for there to be any lasting resolution that doesn't actually involve genocide.
The hate cycle requires extraordinary leadership, self-discipline and forgiveness to break. Hate creates more hate. Revenge creates more revenge. Hate destroys functioning societies from within and from without. Hate is detrimental to health. We all know all those things, yet … .
Great piece Matt, thank you for relaying the brutality of what you saw. I'm curious out of the group of media that joined you, if any of them had been part of Team Ceasefire prior to viewing, and what their response to the images was?
I'll be honest, Geoff. We didn't talk once it was over. I was in the room with people I've called friends and colleagues for more than a decade and when it was over we just sort of nodded at each other, gave each other a pat on the back or a hug, and then everyone just left. A few people broke down before they made it out of the lobby. No one really swapped views.
This is the most powerful account relating to the Oct 7 attack that I have read. Your descriptions of what you witnessed are actions that are in some respects incomprehensible and in other cases heroic. Intellectually challenging and gut wrenching…
Well, that's a hell of a column. Ten points for sitting through the 42 minutes. I don't think I could have. A lot of criticism is being levelled at Israel for not having an 'end-game' in mind with this war, that is, what happens after flattening Gaza? But I wonder even more - what the hell was Hamas thinking in terms of an end game? What was this massacre supposed to accomplish, beyond pure terror? How could Hamas not have not realized that this would spark an attack far different from any other in the past, one motivated by pure revenge? What has Hamas to show for this? Mass killing of their own people. Just complete utter madness, made worse by watching these stooges at rallies braying this crap about 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'. They have no idea what river and what sea and how it means to shove every Jew into the Med.
The only thing that makes sense to me is that Hamas' objective was to have as many Gazan civilians as possible killed by Israelis. This would explain the targetting of civilians, especially children and women, the rapes and the desecration of bodies, the taking of hostages, the orders to Gazans not to evacuate the northern part but rather to stay and "resist" and hopefully be killed.
Why did Hamas want as many civilian Gazans as possible killed? To disrupt peace negotiations between Israel and other countries such as Saudi Arabia. To increase tensions and support for Hamas. To destabilize the region. And, eventually, after destroying Israel, to install a state run along the lines of the original Muslim state of the seventh century.
Malcolm, I believe that Hamas planned for and expected pretty much what is happening right now. In fact, I believe that Hamas is pretty gleeful at the current state of affairs.
Hamas wanted the world to see Israel in a bad light and expected and still expects that the world, particularly the US, will cause Israel to stop it's campaign before the actual elimination of Hamas. Then, Hamas expected and expects that it will get terrifically significant funding (gotta keep those billionaire Hamas leaders financially healthy, you know) after the war.
For my part, I hope and pray that Hamas is wrong in that Israel does not cease the pounding of Gaza and that it does flatten Gaza and eliminate the tunnels. As for the civilians, well, folks if you don't want to be fodder then do one of two things: leave or eliminate Hamas yourselves. Two choices; awful choices but choices nonetheless.
I think that presents a choice which does not exist. Palestinians in Gaza are, in effect, stateless; they lack the paperwork (or sympathetic receiver nations) to allow them to emigrate. And eliminating Hamas is like telling the Hungarians in 1956 to get rid of their Communist overlords. The binary you offer, indeed, serves only to justify the genocide of Gazan Palestinians - which makes it even more invalid.
But I fear your analysis of the Gaza Hamas motivations are probably correct. Their neighbors are nothing more than cannon fodder, and their deaths only serve to reinforce funding for Hamas leadership. It's sickening to see such a level of cynicism directed towards one's fellows, but based on what was always an inevitable response from Israel after a civilian bloodbath, it's clear Hamas has disconnected itself from humanity. It is, however, a bloody shame that the innocent will bear the brunt of Israel's efforts to eliminate the movement.
Peter, you are - in some ways - correct. It is pretty much impossible for Gazans to rise up and get rid of Hamas - NOW. Truth is, they should have done it previously. What they can do is to go from North Gaza where Israel is concentrating it's current efforts to South Gaza.
As for your assertion that there is genocide of the Gazan Palestinians. Words matter - ask Mr. Gurney and Ms. Gerson - so I asked Mr. Google to give me the definition of genocide and Mr. Google told me, as follows: "gen·o·cide - noun - the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group."
I absolutely deny that Israel is deliberately killing people (other than Hamas - more below) with the aim of destroying Gazan Palestinians. Nope, I won't buy it. Yes, civilians do die in wars but that is different than saying that Israel is attempting to kill all Gazans, to erase them.
Now, Hamas, that is a different matter. In fact, it is Hamas who is, by hiding in civilian locations (hospitals, apartment buildings, etc.) that is bringing about the death of Gazan Palestinians. Hamas attacked Israel - horribly, barbarically, deliberately - attempting to bring about the genocide of Israelis, Jews generally and is, by their actions, responsible for the death of Gazans. If you want to argue that the death of Gazan Palestinians is genocide then you need to attribute it in the right place: it is Hamas that is responsible for that genocide.
So, again, I deny that the Israelis are committing genocide.
Two questions for you.
Firstly, do you agree or do you deny that Hamas is attempting the genocide of the state of Israel, of Israeli citizens and of Jews generally?
Secondly, I assume that you argue for genocide against Israel because Israel is not interested in a cease fire. If there was a cease fire, what reason would Israel have to believe that Hamas would honor such a cease fire given Hamas' actions on October 7 and, for that matter, in years past?
I really, really would appreciate receiving response to my questions of you.
Also Ken - to be clear - I don't think Israel is actively pursuing a genocidal motive against Palestinians in Gaza (or the West Bank, for that matter). But one can't ignore the rhetoric in the wake of the October 7 attacks from some prominent members of Israel's cabinet and military which explicitly called out the "inhumanity" or "animal" nature of Palestinians - not just Hamas, but Palestinians in general. Such statements in the immediate wake of the October 7 pogroms may be understandable, but the ways in which certain far right elements of the Israeli political world refer to and behave towards Palestinians makes it clear that - just as Hamas is an evil within Palestine - there are evil elements within the Israeli state. We can't ignore those elements or think somehow they have any justification, ever, even as we support the State of Israel in its legitimate self defence in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
Peter, a moment ago I wrote about my very poor choice of words. And I apologized to you for my stupidity.
I would note that you said, "The binary you offer, indeed, serves only to justify the genocide of Gazan Palestinians..." which did, indeed suggest to me that you view the death of Gazan Palestinians as genocide. With that in mind, I reacted as I did and used a bad word salad.
Clearly, many folks are commenting and YELLING without thinking at all. I would note that it is very easy for me as a Canadian and as a Gentile to view - shall we say, with a certain disdainful reticence - the commentary of various Israeli leaders who spoke just after the October 7 attacks and subsequently.
You make the point that some of these folks continued in their hyperbolic rhetoric after they had had a chance to reflect and you pointed out that those folks were "evil" - your word, which I do not dispute but I also believe that that "evility" [I thought I had coined that word but then I found it to already exist!] is not widespread in Israel; I believe that, I truly do.
I would, however, point out that Israel is a democracy and has earned the right for us to depend on that democracy to weed out the fools and charlatans. I would further point out that our current charlatan in chief still occupies his office eight years after assuming power so even in Canada, good sense can take time. And, finally, noting that Israel is a democracy and that one can expect that fools will be outed and dealt with, I ask you to consider that other countries in the Muddle East are dictatorships and have no mechanisms for correction of stupidity other than a bullet to the head of someone.
Ken, at this point, I think we agree on so much that it's really time we find the right place to consume cocktails and solve the Middle East problems once and for all!
Definitely Ken - and thanks for taking my comment seriously!
First to your two questions: Yes, Hamas is attempting genocide of not just the State of Israel, but of Jewish residents of the Middle East. They're explicit in that aim, and we must take them seriously and take their statements at face value. That makes them reprehensible and - as my post and other posts and online statements by me state - puts them in a kind of "guilty by their words" class of humanity.
As for assuming that I argue for genocide against Israel, I have to ask where, in any of my writings, such an assumption is justified. Nothing I have written has pointed even a little in that direction. And I ask for you - politely, but insistently - to retract such an assertion.
I think Israel has a lot of things to consider when pondering a cease fire, and not being cognisant of the tactical situation on the ground - having only access to such information as the press supplies to North Americans - I can only guess at their mixed military, political, and yes, humanitarian considerations. Do I give them the benefit of the doubt? Not so much - but I also don't claim to have better information, so I have to just observe like the rest of the world. I do trust the US and Canadian governments, however, who continue to advocate for some sort of either cease-fire, or for additional humanitarian aid access corridors in lieu of a general cease fire.
But just as you asked for a response, I have to ask you retract the idea that I at any point have argued for genocide against the Israeli people or their state.
Peter, I apologize because my wording was foolish. I said, "... I assume that you argue for genocide against Israel because ..." What I should have said was, " ... I assume that you argue that Israel is committing genocide because ..."
There is a very large difference in what I meant to say and what I very erroneously did say. I do apologize for my foolishness and I fully request that any reader substitute my corrected words for the ones that I stupidly used.
Thanks - much appreciated, Ken. I did take your post seriously and I do understand the points you're making. And I do think the IDF in particular is as scrupulous as any armed forces in trying to be unemotional in their execution of a difficult military task - who we have to remember are made up of normal men and women, who understandably will be emotional in the wake of the horrors of the October 7-8 attacks. Even while I was appalled to hear some of the comments made by right wing Israeli politicians in the wake of the attacks, I also knew that Israel - as a fundamentally liberal democracy, governed by laws which they courageously have been protesting to protect as recently as two months ago in the face of Netanyahu's attacks on judicial review - would be a nation deserving of our support and respect.
My feeling is Hamas wanted to generate a response that would lead to a large civilian body count and huge humanitarian crisis in an attempt to turn the world against Israel and harm their diplomatic goals in the region. Hamas is not fighting for the people or an independent state, they are fighting for the establishment of an Islamic Calipate where the Jewish people no longer exist . So this suits their goals and sadly seems to be working
Thank you for bearing witness. The speed with which anti-semites have been denying these atrocities has been shocking. We all know about Holocaust denial, but I never thought there would be another event of this nature, with so much footage, that people would be so quick to disregard.
Thank you Matt for watching so I won't have to.
And no one reading this needs to wonder why Israel is responding as it has.
Sadly, I've seen much of what you're referring to as well - shared on social/other media. It's truly appalling. I realize that the Israel/Palestine issue is long standing and I don't have the answer to that. However, it's simply IMPOSSIBLE to look at this planned, cool-ly orchestrated attack and not be both revolted - and shocked at the reaction some have had to it as some kind of moral victory. I really just don't get it.
I am aghast...unable to comment intelligently. Perhaps that video should be compelled viewing at the universities hosting and enabling anti-Semitic protests. Think UofT, York, McGill, Western, Toronto Metropolitan University.
Canada's post secondary education system is a breeding ground for Jew-haters.
I’m in bed reading this. Clean sheets, comfy pillows, nice morning breeze ... I may throw up. I am numb. I am resolved to stay alive to the truth of this horror, celebrated by the P perpetrators. I will never support P. The repugnant P protest rallies should be condemned by all educated and humane citizens. They reek of the stench of death.
Thank you Matt, for bearing witness and sharing the horror. As much as I didn't want to read it, I couldn't not read it. And I appreciate all you went through to bring it to us.
I’m bawling at my kitchen table Matt. Feeling hopeless. Sad. Beyond sad. Reading this was heartbreaking 💔 please take care of your mental health in the days and weeks to come. 🙏🏻
I'm always amazed at the bravery of ordinary people in the presence of evil. Thank you for this article Matt.
Unfortunately, 30 days in, I fear that the will of Israel's allies in the west is fading. This is led, in part, by traditional media sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians and distrustful of Israel. The daily barrage of highly emotional stories and video from Gaza is taking effect, along with compliant media parroting the Hamas-reported casualty figures .
The 'root cause' of the Gaza war is Hamas and its actions - but that seems secondary now and the blame is being placed on the Israeli 'occupation.' No one knows how this ends, but Israelis must feel very alone right now.
You're not alone about the Halloween thing. This year I couldn't bring myself to watch anything despite it being a tradition for my Dad and I to do since I was old enough to watch Abbott and Costello.
I don't know about others but I don't think I'll ever be the same after October 7th.
The pure, raw, bestial hatred in this attack and previous events is why a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is out of reach. I was very much in favor of the Palestinian cause and a 2 state solution until the 2000 intifada, where there were images of a Palestinian man cheering as he showed the blood on his hands from an Israeli police officer he'd just murdered. That was a revelation for me: there was no real strategy behind many of these attacks, it's driven by emotion and anger. We can argue over how the Palestinians got to this place, but ultimately this genocidal bent is a fact that has to be acknowledged and confronted for there to be any lasting resolution that doesn't actually involve genocide.
The hate cycle requires extraordinary leadership, self-discipline and forgiveness to break. Hate creates more hate. Revenge creates more revenge. Hate destroys functioning societies from within and from without. Hate is detrimental to health. We all know all those things, yet … .
My first thought was to ask if you are ok Matt. Of course you're not ok. No one is ok in any of this. That is the horror we are confronted with.
Thank you Matt, for bearing witness.
Thanks for doing this. Take care of yourself.
For the victims of this depravity, it’s not enough to say they will always be remembered and honoured, but for now it’s all I have.
Israel must stop these criminal monsters.
Great piece Matt, thank you for relaying the brutality of what you saw. I'm curious out of the group of media that joined you, if any of them had been part of Team Ceasefire prior to viewing, and what their response to the images was?
I'll be honest, Geoff. We didn't talk once it was over. I was in the room with people I've called friends and colleagues for more than a decade and when it was over we just sort of nodded at each other, gave each other a pat on the back or a hug, and then everyone just left. A few people broke down before they made it out of the lobby. No one really swapped views.
This is the most powerful account relating to the Oct 7 attack that I have read. Your descriptions of what you witnessed are actions that are in some respects incomprehensible and in other cases heroic. Intellectually challenging and gut wrenching…