ON OCTOBER 7, 2023, Hamas unleashed a brutal assault on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. While the world recoiled, Gaza erupted in celebration.
Videos captured civilians, not just militants, handing out sweets, firing guns and chanting in ecstasy. This widespread glee exposed deep support for the violence, shattering the myth of universal Palestinian victimhood.
Footage shows Gazans parading mutilated Israeli bodies through Gaza City. The starkest case: Shani Louk, a 22-year-old German-Israeli kidnapped from the Nova festival. Her semi-naked corpse was dragged on a pickup truck, spat on and beaten by cheering crowds, including children. Such open displays highlight how normalised these acts are. Their culture and beliefs clearly endorse them, showing little regard for the minority opposed.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a Hamas founder, who spied for Israel, confirms civilian complicity: ‘Most of the atrocities that happened on October 7 were not only committed by Hamas. The civilians were the ones who did most of the rapes and kidnappings that happened. It was the hand of so-called civilians . . . The vast majority of Palestinians support Hamas. This is a fact. You cannot even condemn Hamas and say that what they did on October 7 was an act of a savage group.’
Intercepted calls reveal fighters phoning home: ‘Look how many I killed with my own hands! Your son killed Jews!’ Mothers replied: ‘May God accept your sacrifice.’ These exchanges, documented by Israeli intelligence, show families embracing the bloodshed, no coercion, just joy.
Douglas Murray contrasts this with Nazis: ‘The Nazis covered up many of their crimes because they knew the world would not look too kindly on them,’ he tweeted. ‘Even the Nazis were ashamed of what they did . . . they had to get very, very drunk in the evening to forget what they had done.’
Murray slams British hypocrisy. He told Piers Morgan: ‘When I hear British journalists, British commentators and British politicians lecturing Israelis on what they should do, it shows a failing in OUR country. It shows that we in Britain cannot enforce our laws, we don’t even enforce our borders in Britain, it’s us that is the weak link in the international security chain in this, NOT Israel.’
As Murray argues, claims of Israeli ‘genocide’ against Palestinians are a baseless smear contradicted by the facts. Gaza’s population grew from 394,000 in 1970 to 2.1million by 2023 – more than fivefold – since Israel’s 2005 withdrawal, with an annual growth rate of 2.02 per cent and 3.38 births per woman. Israel’s non-Jewish population has also surged, including in Jerusalem, undermining any notion of ethnic cleansing. These figures, as Murray emphasises, disprove extermination and show Israel’s actions pre-October 7 were a measured response to aggression, not a genocidal campaign.
Polls from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) suggest that in December 2023, 57 per cent of Gazans backed the October 7 attack, with 82 per cent in the West Bank, yielding 72 per cent overall approval. By May 2024, 66 per cent still viewed it positively. This leaves 28-41 per cent opposed, a minority deserving focus, not marches that embolden Hamas.
October 7 celebrations reflect societal intent. Instead of futile Western marches validating Hamas, the focus should be on the dissenting minority. Restrict rallies until participants grasp basics. The ill-informed West, echoing Gazan cheers over Louk’s desecration, fuels inhumanity. As Murray warns, when enemies ‘call for the destruction of Israel . . . they do mean it.’ Confront this complicity: only then can peace emerge.
