Sheryl Sandberg has fronted the documentary Screams Before Silence that was posted to YouTube on April 26. The documentary highlights the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas during and after its October 7 massacre. The trailer is below.
Click on “Watch on YouTube” to be taken to the 56-minute documentary.
Last year I saw more than a glimpse of the crazed sexual violence in the atrocity video compiled by the IDF for restricted showings to journalists and others. I viewed it courtesy of Jewish Community Relations Council executive director Steve Hunegs and wrote about it here. The showing of the video was introduced by Consul for Political and Commercial Affairs Itai Biran of Israel’s Chicago-based Midwest Consulate. Mr. Biran told me before the showing, “We need to fight for the truth. We’re fighting for the very basic truth.” Sad to say, that observation applies even more so today.
What’s it all about? Jewish Journal proprietor David Suissa doesn’t exactly answer the question, but rather offers notes toward an answer:
It’s the humiliation.
The glee.
The intention.
To describe the horrible and unspeakable sexual violence committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, we don’t need adjectives like horrible and unspeakable.
Even verbs like “rape” can’t do the trick.
To do justice, it is the nouns that count.
The nails in the groins.
The breast on the ground.
The stains in the sweats.
The branding on skin.
The bullets that hit faces.
The legs on the pick up.
The screams.
The unknown.
The terror.
Maybe, above all, the videos.
The videos they couldn’t show.
From the rapists themselves.
Videos for the planet.
Videos, videos, videos.
Videos of cruelty.
Pride.
Eagerness.
Videos they couldn’t show.
In the new film “Screams Before Silence,” that is what I remember most— not the adjectives but the nouns.
The victims.
The flowers.
The tears.
The memories for all nights.
Oct. 7.
The humiliation, the glee, the intention.
The evidence.
The silence.
Suissa’s Jewish Journal column is titled “Screams Before Silence.”
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