It is surely one of the most important skills to teach. How can a high proportion of our young adults think that a bunch of terrorist thugs who decapitate civilians, kidnap hostages, rape little girls as a policy, and set alight fathers in front of their children… are freedom fighters, let alone a government? Yet thousands of the Millennial and Gen Z young adults we are counting on to run the world in future, think exactly that. They seem to have lost their moral compass, and cannot tell truth from lies. So what do we do?
At People4Peace (P4P), a US-based 501(c)(3), our viral campaign uses Hamas’ own bodycam footage to show irrefutably what they actually are: a terrorist organization. Following the tragic 10/7 massacre of Israelis by thousands of Hamas terrorists, global sympathy flowed towards the innocent Israeli victims. This compassion lasted ten minutes. And when Iran launched three hundred missiles at Israel, the receiving country was urged to show restraint. Really? Did anyone suggest restraint after 9-11, Pearl Harbor, after the Blitzkreig of the Nazis through Europe?
The Israeli government blocked the full, horrific evidence from the 10/7 attack. We do ourselves no favors by suppressing the truth. We have Hamas bodycam footage, Israeli security camera recordings, survivor videos, intercepted cellphone traffic and social media posts by the Hamas terrorists themselves. These are ongoing appalling and barbaric crimes. The decision to block was a significant error: It caused an information vacuum quickly filled by Hamas propaganda and lies. P4P has created messages exposing the truth about Hamas. Be careful watching these samples: don’t do so if you carry PTSD.
WARNING: THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS GRAPHIC FOOTAGE FROM THE 10/7 MASSACRE:
Eyes On The Lies.
After the 10/7 attack, Hamas attempted to distort the crimes committed by their terrorists. P4P responds with this message:
WARNING: THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS GRAPHIC FOOTAGE FROM THE 10/7 MASSACRE:
October 7.
Many future messages will address other lies and misrepresentations by Hamas. The bombing of Gaza elicited an immediate international backlash against Israel’s attempt to eradicate the terrorists. The sophisticated tunnel network of Hamas, as long as the New York subway system, resulted in the use of large bombs that led to shocking scenes of destruction and civilian casualties. The global outcry for an immediate ceasefire was swift, overshadowing the plight of the Israeli victims and hostages from the 10/7 attack. The misreporting of the bombing of a Gaza hospital further swayed public opinion against Israel. Regrettably, the death of Israeli hostages and World Central Kitchen aid workers, alongside the ongoing human catastrophe for civilians in Gaza have contributed to a plummeting decline in global opinion of Israel. The IDF promptly acknowledged responsibility for each tragic accident, whereas Hamas persists in denying its role in the 10/7 attack, misrepresenting civilian casualties, and employing innocent civilians as human shields. They promise to inflict their barbarity again and again, and proudly state repeatedly that their goal is to kill the Jews and re-establish the Caliphate that once imposed Sharia as far west as Spain.
Lost amidst the fog of war is the fact that the conflict began when Hamas violated an existing ceasefire by launching a sneak attack during a Jewish holiday on a predominantly civilian population, including women, elderly men, children, and even family pets. Over 1100 people were massacred, and 250 hostages were seized by Hamas terrorists, kidnapped to Gaza, where they were paraded through the streets amidst huge crowd and public humiliation.
Hamas capitalized on the information void by circulating horrific footage of Gaza bombings interspersed with some from unrelated conflicts, offering no explanation for the extensive airstrikes. Consequently, many worldwide, particularly in Muslim regions, believe that Israel initiated an unprovoked attack on Gaza, denying the occurrence of 10/7 altogether, and ignoring the tragic truth that Hamas routinely uses its women and children as human shields. When President Truman ended the war with Imperial Japan, when Churchill bombed Nazi German cities, when civilians died in eliminating the leadership of Al Qaeda and Isis, those deaths were all tragic, but while mourning innocent civilian deaths, few questioned the first, most important right and obligation of every government: to eliminate existential threats to its citizens.
Thus far, Hamas, Iran and Hezbollah are winning the war for our young adults’ minds. If you can help push out our videos, please do so. The gloves must come off before they kill the Jews and set fire to more babies in their cribs. P4P is dedicated to a just peace between Israel and Palestinians who accept Israel’s right to exist. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are clearly not partners for peace. Until then, Israel must continue its efforts to keep its citizens safe and hold Hamas accountable for 10/7, the deaths of innocent Israelis and of those Gazans they used as human shields. Truth is truth. Can we please help our young adults apply critical thinking?
Author: Peter Samuelson, People 4 Peace Chairman, Media executive, philanthropist, producer of 27 motion pictures, some award winning. Father of 4.
View this TImes of Israel Op-ed from April 25th