This article first appeared in New English Review.
Amit Soussana, a 40-year-old Israeli woman who was taken
hostage on October 7 by Hamas and later released in a prisoner swap, has come
forward to tell her story. It is beyond disturbing and should serve as a lesson
for all the people in the West who are demonstrating on behalf of the
Palestinians-in effect, Hamas. It is a tale of beating, torture, and sexual
abuse, not just by the terrorists of Hamas who kidnapped her and took her to
Gaza, but apparently by “civilian” men who kept her prisoner in their homes and
abused her. Her story, which appears in the Times of Israel (as well as many
other major news sources), can be read here.
(Reader warning.)
Putting aside the obvious barbarity of Hamas on October 7
(and beyond), according to many reports, it appears that not all the hostages
have been kept in the subterranean tunnels where Hamas terrorists are hiding. Many
have reportedly been turned over to people in their homes for guarding. On October 7, videos from the terrorists
themselves showed howling mobs of civilians celebrating the arrival of the
Israeli hostages in Gaza. There is the infamous video of a young German woman,
kidnapped from the music festival she was attending, lying motionless, half
naked in the bed of a pickup truck, and Palestinian civilians spitting on her
body and striking her. Gaza was cheering on October 7, just as they were
cheering on 9-11. Make no mistake: Hamas enjoys the vast support of the
civilian population in Gaza (and the West Bank as well). Today, it is those
same civilians in Gaza that the world is expressing so much concern for. Of
course, nobody should celebrate the death of innocents. There are surely women
and children in Gaza who have died during the Israeli invasion who are not
guilty of anything, and that is regrettable. Their blood, however, is on the
hands of Hamas, who cowardly uses civilians as shields and refuses to surrender
even as the Gaza Strip has been decimated. I am not afraid to state that any
sympathy I might hold for the citizens of Gaza is tempered by the horrors that
most of them celebrated.
Yet, here in the US, Canada, and Europe, thousands take to
the streets to condemn Israel. Many are of Middle East descent, many are not,
just gullible “woke” activists jumping on the anti-Israel, anti-West bandwagon.
What occurred on October 7 has not changed their point of view one iota. The
beheading and burning alive of innocent civilians-including infants(!) has not
changed their minds. The fact that Americans are among the hostages matters
nothing to them. The ongoing plight of the hostages, people like Ms. Soussana,
has not changed their point of view one iota. I have no doubt that her tale
will not change the opinion of the pro-Palestinian mobs one iota. Nor will any
of this change the opinions of the leftist university professors, Students for
Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and all the other “woke” mobs
that infest our university campuses from the East Coast to the West Coast, from
Columbia to UC Berkeley and points in between. The warped professors will
continue to hold their teach-ins, condemning Israel for fighting back,
demanding a cease-fire, and devoting all of their compassion to the civilians
of Gaza, including those who cheered October 7, including those who joined in
the abuse of the hostages on that day, including those that are helping keep
hostages under guard, and including those who have so horribly abused people
like Amit Soussana.
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