On October 7th, the world witnessed unfiltered evil. Hamas terrorists invaded Israeli communities, slaughtering over 1,200 people—men, women, children, elderly Holocaust survivors—many in their homes, in their beds, in bomb shelters where they sought refuge. They raped women next to the corpses of their friends. They paraded bloodied hostages through the streets of Gaza. They filmed it. They celebrated it. They broadcast it to the world as a badge of honor. There is no cause, no grievance, no ideology that can justify what Hamas did that day. It was pure barbarism.
Among the victims was a 10-month-old baby girl, Mila Cohen, murdered alongside her father Ohad and grandmother Yona. Three generations of one family—erased in a single morning. Mila never even got to take her first steps. Her name, her face, her life must never be forgotten. That one fact alone should silence anyone still clinging to moral relativism.
That said, we must be clear-eyed and honest. Some of the most grotesque stories that spread in the aftermath—claims that babies were burned in ovens or that a pregnant woman was cut open and her fetus stabbed—have not been substantiated. Israeli officials have walked back these claims, and no credible medical or forensic reports support them. These narratives spread through a traumatized public and a frantic media cycle, and while many believed them in good faith, belief does not equal truth.
Even Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities that suffered the worst atrocities that day, had to issue a public clarification. A spokesperson stated: “Nearly one hundred people were murdered on Kibbutz Be’eri, and the community suffered hundreds of heartbreaking incidents on that Black Saturday and over the past months, especially regarding the hostages. However, incidents such as eight murdered babies and a murdered Holocaust survivor named Genia – did not happen.” When the survivors themselves feel compelled to correct the record, it’s time for the rest of us to listen.
And when lies are told—especially lies that feel engineered for maximum emotional impact—they backfire. They allow Hamas sympathizers and denialists to dismiss everything as propaganda, even the documented atrocities. That undermines the real horror, the real pain, the real victims. It cheapens the memory of Mila and countless others who were truly, verifiably murdered.
Hamas doesn’t need made-up crimes to prove they’re evil. The truth is horrific enough. They are a death cult that trains children to kill and celebrates the murder of civilians. They use hospitals as bases and their own people as shields. They butchered Jews because they were Jews. That’s evil.
Those in the media, NGOs, and advocacy spaces who spread false claims—whether out of panic, outrage, or misguided zeal—owe Israel a public apology. Even if the intentions were good, the damage was immense. These lies undermined Israel’s moral standing, handed ammunition to its enemies, and blurred the lines between truth and fiction in a war where clarity matters. It’s time to take responsibility. Issue a clear, unequivocal apology. It’s the least that can be done.
