Voices from the Tunnels

Ten days ago, I was invited to Voices from the Tunnels, a recreation of the Gaza tunnels where 136 hostages are being held, preceded by a viewing of the 43 minutes of footage from October 7th. ?

There was something poignant about making my way to the disused warehouse in East London, where Jewish history is woven into the local tapestry and where so many of our ancestors began their life in Britain.?

It has taken me ten days to get my thoughts together. I have tried to write so many times. I feel guilty that it has taken me this long to share my experience, because the hostages and victims didn’t have the luxury of any delay.?

Ten days. That’s just 8% of the number of days the hostages have been held captive in Gaza. 136 innocent hostages held in the most despicable conditions; underground, in darkness, deprived of basic human needs, with terrorist captors abusing them for 114 days. That’s nearly 1/3 of a year.?

I know many have seen some of the brutal evidence from that brutal day. I had certainly seen much of it. But seeing a 43 minute film of consecutive, consolidated, uncensored footage from multiple sources including Hamas bodycams, victims’ dashcams, Zaka rescue workers’ cameras, victims’ mobiles, first responders’ phones, public CCTV, home security cameras, IDF base cameras and more, all unedited, with the original sound, on a large screen, in a cold, dark warehouse, was a different experience entirely.?

The twenty or so of us watching held our breath, gasped, cried, screamed and some walked out before the end of the film. In the darkness, I could see heads shaking in disbelief, bodies tense, hands covering faces and strangers holding hands. Some looked away. I was frozen. Despite already knowing what came to pass that day, I still found myself shocked to my core and chilled to my bones in a way I have felt only once before - on a visit to Auschwitz.?

It was like watching the most violent video game or horror film set in a dystopian world. We watched and hoped the goodies would arrive to save the day.?

And yet it is all real. Evidence of a day no one should experience in any lifetime.?

43 minutes is a long time. But it’s only a tiny fraction of the hours and hours of barbaric attacks that residents of 30 towns experienced on October 7th in Israel. Hours and hours of the most sadistic, savage, ferocious crimes, celebrated by the perpetrators in the most evil of ways. The celebrations of the terrorists and of spectators on the streets in Gaza are almost the worst scenes in the footage. Almost. It is impossible to understand the celebrations.?

It is also near impossible to digest that these crimes were carried out by boys and young men. Terrorists with evil in their eyes, in their voices, in their actions, in their souls. Boys and men who were born into a world where killing Jews and destroying Israel was made their life‘s goal from the start, as we have seen in their schoolbooks and curriculum. ?Boys and young men who could have had a different life and celebrated other successes like good school results, winning a football match or getting their first pay check.?

After the film, we walked down several metres of staircases, deep underground, to see some recreated Gaza tunnels. The engineering is astonishing. A whole city beneath a city. Created by and for terrorist activity. Funded, partly, by the West as we now know. Supported by humanitarian organisations who knew the score. ?

Rooms were set up based on descriptions from returned hostages. 12 year old Eitan Yahalomi was taken from his home and forced to watch Hamas footage of their heinous crimes on a loop for the 52 days he was held in Gaza. Siblings Maya and Itay Regev were shot at the music festival, taken hostage and operated on without anesthetic in Gaza, with Maya’s foot incorrectly reattached. Filmed hostage testimonies played on screens in the tiny, dark rooms. It is unfathomable that this could have happened on any scale in our world.?

You must start or keep talking. Don’t let anyone deny October 7th. Don’t let anyone tell you it was a day of resistance. None of us knew such evil still existed. These are modern-day Nazis with the same goals.?

Talk about the hostages. There are 136 of them. Innocent hostages ranging from 1-84 years old, from five religions and thirty countries. We know that the hostages who are still in Gaza are being abused, psychologically, physically and sexually, by their captors.?

There is not a single doubt in my body or mind that Hamas must be eliminated to protect the world from any and all future October 7ths, in Israel or anywhere on our planet.?

If you, or someone you know, would ‘like’ to see the footage, please be in touch and I’ll connect you to the team of heroes who are uncovering more evidence and testimonies each day and working hard to educate the world.