New Hamas video of hostages

Rather than going down the old arguments and offensive language, it might be nice to try to keep the focus of the thread on the women whose families have bravely agreed to share footage of their ordeals to raise awareness and try to keep people's minds on innocent people who should not be forgotten or marginalised.

The world often looks the other way when violence, especially sexual violence, is perpetrated against women. Even more so, when those women belong to a non-'Western' culture or minority group.

As women on this forum, many of us will have said and thought how upsetting and infuriating it is when that happens. If we ourselves can't keep a thread about this on topic, that's a sad day for women, that even we can't put the experiences and pain of women like us ahead of arguing about things that are already being argued about elsewhere on the board.

What about the thousands of videos coming out of Gaza EVERY SINGLE DAY? What about the 15,000 children who have been killed let alone the orphans, the wounded, and now the starvation and diseases that are killing them. What about their homes being bombed, while whole bloodlines are being wiped out. What about all the brave medics who have been slaughtered? The journalists who have lost their lives? First they are sent out of the north to the south to live in tents and now they are bombing the south, there is nowhere to go?? What about the little girl Hind who was in a car with her uncle, aunt and young cousins and the Israeli army shot at them killing everyone but little Hind who managed to get through to emergency services on a telephone whilst sat in the car with her dead family, She was begging to be rescued. Then the Red Crescent got the go ahead from the army to send an ambulance in to rescue her and what did the Israeli's do? They bombed the ambulance killing two medics and shot Hind who was only 6 years old. This started 76 years ago, not in October. The people of Palestine have been living in an open aired prison with Israel giving them no rights or chance of a future.tens of thousands of Palestinian people including children and disabled have been locked up and put into prisons with no charges brought against them and no trial but yet we call them 'prisoners' when they are really 'hostages'. If the Palestinian people had been treated as equals and humans and had rights then Hamas would not have become what it is. The Israeli government are the ones to blame for Hamas because they are the only other option for the people to support to try to gain freedom and let's not forget there is no Hamas in the West Bank and yesterday a teacher, a doctor and a young student were murdered in the West Bank, this is a genocide happening before our very eyes and all people need to do is look for the information out there on the internet and they will see it's all there.

Why did it need to mention Hamas? Hamas is not the only extreme Islamist organisation.

I think these young women have been heinously treated in every way, and pray there will be a deal for a ceasefire to get them released.

I heard on the news that Netanyahu had refused to meet the families who released the video today. Shame on him.

What about the thousands of videos coming out of Gaza EVERY SINGLE DAY? What about the 15,000 children who have been killed let alone the orphans, the wounded, and now the starvation and diseases that are killing them. What about their homes being bombed, while whole bloodlines are being wiped out. What about all the brave medics who have been slaughtered? The journalists who have lost their lives? First they are sent out of the north to the south to live in tents and now they are bombing the south, there is nowhere to go?? What about the little girl Hind who was in a car with her uncle, aunt and young cousins and the Israeli army shot at them killing everyone but little Hind who managed to get through to emergency services on a telephone whilst sat in the car with her dead family, She was begging to be rescued. Then the Red Crescent got the go ahead from the army to send an ambulance in to rescue her and what did the Israeli's do? They bombed the ambulance killing two medics and shot Hind who was only 6 years old. This started 76 years ago, not in October. The people of Palestine have been living in an open aired prison with Israel giving them no rights or chance of a future.tens of thousands of Palestinian people including children and disabled have been locked up and put into prisons with no charges brought against them and no trial but yet we call them 'prisoners' when they are really 'hostages'. If the Palestinian people had been treated as equals and humans and had rights then Hamas would not have become what it is. The Israeli government are the ones to blame for Hamas because they are the only other option for the people to support to try to gain freedom and let's not forget there is no Hamas in the West Bank and yesterday a teacher, a doctor and a young student were murdered in the West Bank, this is a genocide happening before our very eyes and all people need to do is look for the information out there on the internet and they will see it's all there.

I am also a British jew and the videos I saw traumatised me so much that I just cried and cried for about 2 weeks solid.

Would just pace around sobbing and howling and couldn’t focus on my work and had to stop looking for my own mental health.

I was truly shocked by the generational trauma it stirred in me (having relatives persecuted and forced to flee their homeland and others sent to auschwitz).

Was also not expecting the terror it stirred in me; growing up as a child learning of the Holocaust I hated being told that I was Jewish, I felt so ashamed and furious that this was my race because I was so frightened by it all. I just wished it wouldn’t apply to me. It felt so unfair and I hated I had no choice in the matter. I faced anti Jewish comments at school but largely as an adult thought it was no longer a real threat and even started to feel pride for my heritage and what we have all overcome.

october 7th shook me to my core, but the silence after, and the swell of anti semitism since has felt dystopian. Not one of my friends messaged or wanted to talk about it and any efforts to bring it up were quickly dismissed.

I can’t quite believe it is happening and I am having pretty paranoid thoughts about wishing my kids didn’t have Jewish sounding surnames or flinching when my ‘heritage’ comes up in conversations and wondering if I’m imagining people treating me differently or not. One school mum hasn’t spoken to me since it came up in conversation that I’m Jewish. Maybe it’s coincidence. This is the level of my paranoia now.

These threads are a bit like picking at a scab; I guess I engage with them hoping to be proved wrong and to be reassured that the majority of people are good and decent and it’s still only a small edge case of nut jobs that feel hatred for Jewish people and justify what is happening to Israelis. But when you see so many marching along side the islamist extremists who are protesting for Israel’s destruction, and failing to acknowledge the pain of the hostages and families, it feels so lonely and confusing.

But my existential fear is nothing compared with what people actually living in this hell day to day are going through.

I just can’t see how one wouldn’t understand Israel needing to defend itself after watching the footage. I’m not saying it means Israel are or aren’t conducting the war proportionately - that’s a quite separate issue. But in terms of justifying Israel’s right to defend itself, it’s pretty compelling and I don’t understand how reticent people are to accept that.

What about the thousands of videos coming out of Gaza EVERY SINGLE DAY? What about the 15,000 children who have been killed let alone the orphans, the wounded, and now the starvation and diseases that are killing them. What about their homes being bombed, while whole bloodlines are being wiped out. What about all the brave medics who have been slaughtered? The journalists who have lost their lives? First they are sent out of the north to the south to live in tents and now they are bombing the south, there is nowhere to go?? What about the little girl Hind who was in a car with her uncle, aunt and young cousins and the Israeli army shot at them killing everyone but little Hind who managed to get through to emergency services on a telephone whilst sat in the car with her dead family, She was begging to be rescued. Then the Red Crescent got the go ahead from the army to send an ambulance in to rescue her and what did the Israeli's do? They bombed the ambulance killing two medics and shot Hind who was only 6 years old. This started 76 years ago, not in October. The people of Palestine have been living in an open aired prison with Israel giving them no rights or chance of a future.tens of thousands of Palestinian people including children and disabled have been locked up and put into prisons with no charges brought against them and no trial but yet we call them 'prisoners' when they are really 'hostages'. If the Palestinian people had been treated as equals and humans and had rights then Hamas would not have become what it is. The Israeli government are the ones to blame for Hamas because they are the only other option for the people to support to try to gain freedom and let's not forget there is no Hamas in the West Bank and yesterday a teacher, a doctor and a young student were murdered in the West Bank, this is a genocide happening before our very eyes and all people need to do is look for the information out there on the internet and they will see it's all there.

I am also a British jew and the videos I saw traumatised me so much that I just cried and cried for about 2 weeks solid.

Would just pace around sobbing and howling and couldn’t focus on my work and had to stop looking for my own mental health.

I was truly shocked by the generational trauma it stirred in me (having relatives persecuted and forced to flee their homeland and others sent to auschwitz).

Was also not expecting the terror it stirred in me; growing up as a child learning of the Holocaust I hated being told that I was Jewish, I felt so ashamed and furious that this was my race because I was so frightened by it all. I just wished it wouldn’t apply to me. It felt so unfair and I hated I had no choice in the matter. I faced anti Jewish comments at school but largely as an adult thought it was no longer a real threat and even started to feel pride for my heritage and what we have all overcome.

october 7th shook me to my core, but the silence after, and the swell of anti semitism since has felt dystopian. Not one of my friends messaged or wanted to talk about it and any efforts to bring it up were quickly dismissed.

I can’t quite believe it is happening and I am having pretty paranoid thoughts about wishing my kids didn’t have Jewish sounding surnames or flinching when my ‘heritage’ comes up in conversations and wondering if I’m imagining people treating me differently or not. One school mum hasn’t spoken to me since it came up in conversation that I’m Jewish. Maybe it’s coincidence. This is the level of my paranoia now.

These threads are a bit like picking at a scab; I guess I engage with them hoping to be proved wrong and to be reassured that the majority of people are good and decent and it’s still only a small edge case of nut jobs that feel hatred for Jewish people and justify what is happening to Israelis. But when you see so many marching along side the islamist extremists who are protesting for Israel’s destruction, and failing to acknowledge the pain of the hostages and families, it feels so lonely and confusing.

But my existential fear is nothing compared with what people actually living in this hell day to day are going through.

I just can’t see how one wouldn’t understand Israel needing to defend itself after watching the footage. I’m not saying it means Israel are or aren’t conducting the war proportionately - that’s a quite separate issue. But in terms of justifying Israel’s right to defend itself, it’s pretty compelling and I don’t understand how reticent people are to accept that.

I read the post, I didn't report it but I'm sure it implied there was a rise in Islamofascism in the UK, I don't remember you mentioning Hamas.

I'd be sincerely grateful if whoever reported my post could explain what caused offence. Was it the use of the word "Islamofascism"? What else are we supposed to call Hamas and its activities?

It's precisely this kind of heavy-handed censorship that worries me sick. How are we supposed to tackle the current situation if we are not even allowed to describe it in plain speech?

Or is there some other preferred terminology? Please educate me if so.

I'd be sincerely grateful if whoever reported my post could explain what caused offence. Was it the use of the word "Islamofascism"? What else are we supposed to call Hamas and its activities?

It's precisely this kind of heavy-handed censorship that worries me sick. How are we supposed to tackle the current situation if we are not even allowed to describe it in plain speech?

Or is there some other preferred terminology? Please educate me if so.