Award winning film The Voice of Hind Rajab

[Thedawnchorus]

Has anyone on here watched the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab” which won multiple awards at the Venice Film Festival and had the longest standing ovation in history. I really want to watch it but am worried it will be too upsetting. If anyone has seen it, is it really going to be as heartbreaking to watch as I suspect or will I be able to handle it. I’m a bit of a wuss when it comes to really harrowing films.

Yes it’s based around the recording of the child’s calls with the Red Crescent, and the actors interact with that as well as some other exposition ‘scenes’ (it all takes place basically in one room). There’s some really innovative film making in the way the original recordings and phone footage have been integrated into the film, and it highlights the incredibly difficult role aid workers have, the petty (in every sense of the word) bureaucracy of it all.

There has been a LOT of discussion on the Hind Rajab film, not here mind.
As usual, choose your side.
https://markzlochin.substack.com/p/the-shape-shifting-story-of-hind

I’ve read your link as I really want to know more. I’m really sorry but although that seems to indicate that the whole story about Hind has been exaggerated or even fictionalised, if it was a legitimate source, I can’t help but think that every news outlet would have jumped on this. As it is, it all looks a bit like unfounded conspiracy theory to me. Nothing seems to be verified.

Well, surprise sur-fucking-prise.

I don’t understand what you mean but is the bad language really necessary?

This ‘substack’ written by some random is a pile of misinformative rubbish.

There’s substantial open-source and forensic evidence that Israeli tanks were extremely close to the car, had clear visibility, and were the only armed forces in the area at the time.

The claim that they “didn’t know civilians were inside” or “weren’t in the area” is therefore inconsistent with verified visual and spatial data.

• Satellite imagery and geolocated video from the day of the attack showed Israeli Merkava tanks positioned just a few dozen metres from the white Kia vehicle in which Hind and her family were trapped.

• Thermal drone footage released later indicates those tanks had unobstructed line of sight to the car.

• The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) dispatcher was on the phone with Hind and heard her describe the tanks “right beside me.” Hind’s cousin, Layan, also said during the call that “they are shooting at us.”

• When rescue paramedics arrived the next day, their ambulance was targeted and destroyed, killing both rescuers.

• When investigators later found the Kia, it was riddled with bullets from multiple angles, consistent with tank or heavy machine-gun fire from the IDF positions shown on satellite.

• The Al Jazeera/Forensic Architecture report concluded that Israeli forces had both visual and technological surveillance capabilities over that zone- meaning they were aware civilians were inside the vehicle.

(Source: Al Jazeera English – Were Israeli troops around where the six-year-old was killed?; Forensic Architecture x Al Jazeera, “The Killing of Hind Rajab” investigation, July 2024)

A bit of background info on Mark Zlochin-

Zlichin is a self-described Israeli writer and commentator who frequently publishes on Substack and X (Twitter) defending Israeli military narratives and challenging mainstream or UN-reported accounts of events in Gaza. His writing is not peer-reviewed or independently verified journalism- it’s opinion-based content, often using selective translations and unverified “fact-checking” to cast doubt on widely reported Palestinian testimonies.

In contrast, the story of Hind Rajab (the 6-year-old girl trapped in a car surrounded by her dead family, who pleaded for rescue before being found killed) was independently verified by multiple major outlets- including BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera, with audio recordings, Red Crescent dispatch records, and drone and satellite imagery showing the destroyed car.

Zlochin’s piece essentially tries to sow doubt by pointing out inconsistencies in early reporting- a tactic known as narrative laundering- rather than presenting new verified evidence.

Thank you so much for doing this.

Completely unnecessary.

I dont think don’t think empathy is a limited resource- feeling heartbreak for a murdered child doesn’t mean you’ve stopped caring about Israeli victims.

If empathy for a 6-year-old child feels like “taking sides”, that probably says more about how polarised the discourse has become than about the film itself.

Psychologists would disagree.

Once you have strongly empathized with one group, its actually very difficult for the human brain to then empathize with an opposing group. Its a function of how we developed in social groups.

'Against Empathy, the Case for Rational Compassion' by Paul Bloom is absolutely fascinating on the subject.

I see it every day on here and I'm sure you see same. Having taken a very strong emotional position makes it very, very difficult to empathize with people taking the opposing position.

Absolutely agree!

I’m slightly stunned that anyone would say empathising with a murdered child is “taking sides”!

Who said anything about taking sides? I didn't, maybe Boris did?

If you're interested in what I'm saying then you can read the book I recommended, its absolutely fascinating. Its nothing to do with this conflict but is very pertinent to it.

I think you’ve slightly misunderstood the point Bloom was making. He wasn’t arguing that we should avoid empathy altogether, but that empathy can be biased- we tend to feel it more strongly for people we identify with.

But that doesn’t mean we should switch it off completely, especially when we’re seeing extreme suffering, particularly of children. Rational compassion shouldn’t mean emotional detachment; it should mean using empathy as a starting point for justice, not abandoning it to appear “balanced.”

Thats interesting. It has been a while since I read it. The message I took away was not to make too many decisions based on emotions, because once empathy is felt, rational decision making can be clouded. I certainly didn't think he was making a case that empathy was the starting point for justice- the opposite in fact. Hence the title.

I do think everyone ( including myself of course 😉 ) having taken a side in this conflict finds it very difficult to empathize with the other.

Watching images of violence is something I really do avoid as it provokes such a strong emotional reaction. I do read about it a lot though, I can cope well with that.

Might revisit the book myself. Thanks.

‘Regarding the Pain of Others’ by Susan Sontag is another book I’d recommend. I actually completed my dissertation around this subject and I’d completely forgotten about it!

This book looks right up my street, I've just bought it on my kindle. Thankyou!

@Wedonttalkaboutboris ’This ‘substack’ written by some random is a pile of misinformative rubbish.’

and then you quote Al Jazeera? Hilarious.

@HellsBalls even accepting the over simplistic idea that all Al Jazeera reporting is rubbish, you have failed to refer to the poster also quoting Forensic Architecture.

forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-hind-rajab

Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London. Our mandate is to develop, employ, and disseminate new techniques, methods, and concepts for investigating state and corporate violence. Our team includes architects, software developers, filmmakers, investigative journalists, scientists, and lawyers.

We are an interdisciplinary agency operating across human rights, journalism, architecture, art and aesthetics, academia and the law. In 2022, the Peabody Awards programme wrote that we had co-created ‘an entire new academic field and emergent media practice’; in 2024, the European Research Council assessed Forensic Architecture as ‘a scientific breakthrough (defined as a revolutionary work that led to deep change in existing paradigms or new methods opening a new stream of research)’.

And the Red Cross? Is this hilarious?
Did you realise that the film about Hind is based around the actual Red Cross recording of Hind’s 70 minute call?

From Haaretz (Israeli news) July 23 2025
On January 29, 2024, Hind Rajab became a symbol of Palestinian suffering during Israel's military campaign in Gaza when her family's vehicle was shelled while fleeing Gaza City. Trapped in the car, she was stranded among five dead relatives and a 15-year-old cousin. The cousin called the Palestinian Red Crescent Society for help before succumbing to her injuries; Rajab remained on the line for three hours. Two weeks later, Rajab and her six relatives were found dead in the car, which was riddled with 335 bullet holes, following an Israeli withdrawal from the area.

The ambulance dispatched to rescue her was also found riddled with tank fire, with two medics inside discovered dead. Investigations by Forensic Architecture and several news outlets, including The Washington Post, concluded that Israeli tank fire was responsible for both attacks - claims Israel has denied.

Haaretz also wrote about Hind it in February 2024.

The New Arab 22/10/25 reports
The Hind Rajab Foundation has submitted a 120-page filing to the ICC identifying soldiers believed to be behind the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab.

I meant to ask earlier as there is something I’ve always wondered about. Israel has the technology to monitor all communications. Does the film try to show that the Israeli tank crew knew that it was Hind in the car and that the ambulance crew were just trying to rescue her.

Are you actually claiming that the events leading up to the murder of Hind Rajab have been falsified? Despite the vast amounts of evidence to the contrary.

Did you read to see who you were quoting? Hahaha

@HellsBalls

The message I took away was not to make too many decisions based on emotions, because once empathy is felt, rational decision making can be clouded.

Surely the opposite is true. It’s entirely rational to feel empathy for the opposite side (or people who aren’t connected to you) because that is how the peace is kept.

Mutual empathy leads to mutual preservation which is much more rational than mutual destruction.

As we have seen.