Israel has been making video/audio recordings of the Oct. 7th attack available to journalists. You've probably read about this — the first briefing, to foreign media in Israel, was written up extensively, in part because of how shocked/upset the media was.
I've seen the video.
I've seen the video.
I'm obviously going to write about what I saw in a proper article soon, after I've had a chance to reflect on it a bit and gather my thoughts. I also need to clean up my notes a bit, quite literally. There were no photos or videos permitted, so hand-jotted notes only.
But it was dark in the room, and my own handwriting is sloppier than normal. I'm going to type out my notes now.
But I wanted to offer a few quick thoughts on the video's contents. It was bad. Hard to watch. I expected that. At times it's extremely graphic.
But I wanted to offer a few quick thoughts on the video's contents. It was bad. Hard to watch. I expected that. At times it's extremely graphic.
Overall, though, and I'm speaking in VERY relative terms here, I'd say it's less graphic than some of what is already circulating on social media. Many of the clips are taken from body cameras or home security recordings, and there are periods of merciful lack of detail.
For all that, I found the video sadder than I expected. Less gory, perhaps, but sadder. At a few points in the video, the same event is depicted from a few different angles: a Hamas terrorist's body camera, an Israeli's car dashbaord camera, a home security camera.
I obviously can't speak to any editing choices made, beyond noting that the IDF says they are only using what parts of the videos that families of known victims consented to release. That noted, the way the videos are combined, in short, choppy segments, can rachet up the horror.
You know something terrible is going to happen. And each choppy edit brings you closer to it. I don't think it was done intentionally — the videos are bad enough without needing to be carefully edited to tell a story. But they tell a story even so.
Another thing that jumped out was how completely taken by surprise Israelis were. I don't just mean the military and the intelligence community. I mean just people. Soon-to-be-victims. Many of them walked or drove into fatal ambushes and probably never knew what was happening.
I hope they never knew, anyway. It's nice to think that for some people, it was over before they realized what was happening. The videos are clear that that was NOT the case for many of them. More than once I found myself quietly relieved that someone seemed to have died fast.
There's a few specific moments of the video that are particularly awful that I'm still reflecting on. I'm not sure what to do with them yet. Dead children. Wounded children. Indications of rape among victims. Particularly awful acts of cruelty. I'm currently at a loss for words.
But rather than those awful moments, my mind is more stuck on the sad ones. There is a moment where you think just for a moment that a crawling wounded man is going to be able to escape. But then a terrorist walks up and calmly shoots him twice at point-blank range with a rifle.
The video was shot at some distance, so you don't see anything graphic or gory. The victim is slightly obscured by an object when the presumably fatal shots are fired. But it's a gut punch. He almost made it out. His killer didn't care. He walks up calmly and shoots him twice.
There's another moment that I'm going to be thinking about. Also not particularly graphic (but pretty bad). It's a first responder arriving at the site of the outdoor music event. (The footage is from a bodyworn camera.) The responder is on his radio, reporting what he sees.
As he approaches, he reports a body. Then another, and another, and more. His voice is calm. You can hear stress — I don't speak Hebrew, but stress is universal — but he's on-mission, relaying information.
Then he sees what's inside the venue, past the Coca-Cola banners.
Then he sees what's inside the venue, past the Coca-Cola banners.
The audience is seeing it with him. I'll get it into more later when I write this up properly, but he sees what's inside the venue, and he makes a little horrified, gasping sound. Just for a moment. I don't know exactly how to describe the sound beyond that, but I felt it, too.
There's another moment like that, but I want to reflect on that one more before I share it. But yeah. The total video, a bit over 40 minutes, is probably the saddest thing I've ever seen and ever hope to see.
More to come. Thanks for reading.
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More to come. Thanks for reading.
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