Never Again is Now: The Brutal 10/7 Massacre in Israel

WARNING: This piece contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault. Information is current as of 11/15/2023.

More Jews were murdered on October 7, 2023 than on any other day since the Holocaust. Hamas terrorists and other groups cruelly butchered at least 1,200 children, women, and men of many ages, nationalities, and religions. In an interrogation with the Israel Defense Forces, a terrorist admitted: “our only mission was to kill.” Israeli authorities found that terrorists ingested Captagon , a synthetic drug that promotes feelings of rage, which presumably made it easier to commit brutal, inhumane, and unspeakable crimes .

Instead of a terrorist attack being met with resolute condemnation and outrage, anti-Semitic attacks and incidents exponentially rose around the world. The United Nations Security Council routinely and rightly condemns terrorist acts in countries like Iran , Pakistan , and Somalia . But curiously, the Security Council chose silence in the aftermath of these terrorist attacks in Israel. This seemingly incomprehensible discrepancy is also reflected in college campuses and law schools throughout the United States. Contrary to what the ignorance and anti-Semitism that we are witnessing in many of these institutions may suggest, words have meaning. Facts matter. Words like “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “ceasefire” all have established definitions. Calling something a name doesn’t make it true.

A popular word these days is “genocide,” a term coined in 1944 and adopted in 1948 by the United Nations specifically in response to the systematic murder of Jews (and many other groups ) in the Holocaust. Civilians dying during an armed conflict, as undeniably tragic as it always is, does not constitute genocide . It should go without saying that reasonable people mourn innocent deaths anywhere, especially when civilians are used as human shields . Other terms like “war crimes” and “mass killing” are also not equivalent to genocide . But kidnapping and holding civilians hostage is a war crime . Firing thousands of rockets into civilian areas is a war crime , too.

“Crimes against humanity” is another frequently misused, but also defined, term. Article 7 of the ICC’s Rome Statute describes crimes against humanity as murder, extermination, imprisonment, torture, and rape (among others) “when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” Any decent first-year criminal law student could identify enough undisputed evidence to prove both the actus reus and mens rea elements of the crimes committed on 10/7.

International journalists and non-biased observers personally witnessed photo and video evidence of the horrors of 10/7. The details are unimaginably horrific and shocking: an 85-year-old woman beaten with a wooden pole ; teenagers who were enjoying a music festival attacked with guns, grenades, and gas ; children and elderly women being raped “to the point that bones were broken” ; a baby burnt in an oven, per an Israeli first responder . More than 200 people from Israel, the United States, Thailand, Argentina, France , Mexico , and other nations, were abducted on 10/7. Civilians were executed Einsatzgruppen -style, in a way reminiscent of the Babyn Yar Massacre . Independent forensic pathologists commented on the “magnitude and cruelty” of what they saw. They recovered a “high proportion” of bodies that were charred, mutilated, or had gunshot wounds on their hands .

No governmental action, ideology, or policy justifies the brutality of 10/7. In President Biden’s words: “There is no rationalizing it, no excusing it. Period.” International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is also clear on this point. A “non-state actor” like Hamas is obligated to follow the norms of IHL . The International Committee of the Red Cross, which largely acts as an observer of IHL, prohibits acts of violence that aim to spread terror among the civilian population . But non-state actors and designated foreign terrorist organizations in the region, like Hamas, frequently fail to abide by this requirement . U.S. government officials have confirmed Israeli claims that Hamas uses hospitals, like the Al Shifa hospital, to run its military operations . This is also a war crime . As of November 9, 2023, the deputy spokesperson for the U.S. State Department maintained that the U.S. had found no evidence of Israeli war crimes . The grisly optics of war should not make us lose moral clarity, or prevent us from recognizing that objective concepts of good and evil exist.

“Both sides” logic is not the correct approach to this situation, and that does not mean minimizing anyone’s legitimate suffering. Yet, any attempt at legitimation of these tragedies, and the motives behind such attempts, should be questioned with cynicism and skepticism (for more on legitimation from an international relations standpoint, see this excellent journal article by scholar Daniel F. Wajner ). The professional world appears to be responding better than students and administrators in multiple college campuses and law schools, which is heartening. A letter unequivocally denouncing anti-Semitism signed by dozens of U.S. law firms is a good example.

The lives of thousands of people were taken away by terrorism in an instant; in some cases, over the course of hours or days for those who were tortured . For the orphans, brothers, sisters, parents, and friends of victims who survived, life will never be the same . For Jews all over the world, life will never be the same . We cannot allow ourselves or the world to forget. As my friend Elliot Malin, MPA wrote in a piece I highly recommend: “The Jewish people are one big family in tremendous pain. Am Yisrael Chai. The Jewish people live. And we will continue to live.”

We said Never Again. Never Again is Now.