SEATTLE, Wash., December 1, 2023—The Consulate of Israel to the Pacific Northwest in San Francisco visited the Jewish Family Services center in Seattle Thursday, November 30, to share with select journalists a grizzly reel of footage detailing the horrific nature of the Hamas October 7 terrorist attack against Israel.

The roughly 45-minute, video is arranged from body cam, dash cam, mobile phone video (including social media posts and live streaming), first responder video, and CCTV footage. Out of respect for the victims Reporters were not allowed to capture any video or photos of the event but here is the Lynnwood Times’ account:

Warning: the following details graphic descriptions of violence, some involving children.

The beginning opens to Hamas terrorists in the back of a truck with loaded assault rifles pledging their love for Allah. These soldiers then blockade a populated road on the Israel/Palestine border and murder motorists with their weapons as they slow down. A later clip shows the same road littered with the bodies of the deceased, blood staining the road, as soldiers take selfies and smile.

In an Israeli suburban neighborhood near the Gaza strip, Hamas soldiers infiltrate houses and gun down residents as they go about their day-to-day activities; some watching television, some cooking meals, children playing in the playgrounds in the back of their houses. A curious dog pokes its head out to see what all the commotion is about, walking up to the soldiers with its tongue out and tail wagging. The terrorist’s reaction was not so friendly.

A father at home with his two boys hears the gunshots and attempts to retreat out of their house through the back door. They find shelter in a shed outside, but a terrorist promptly throws a grenade inside. In an explosion of light and blood the father is gone but the boys, traumatized by what they have just seen, are escorted back inside their home while the terrorists raid their refrigerator. Crying, the children mourn their father, one of them complaining they can no longer see. A later clip shows the mother returning home after the neighborhood is defended by local security. She finds her husband’s remains in the shed and breaks down in agony. There is no sight of the two children nor is their fate known.

Terrorist soldiers are then seen setting houses in the development on fire.

In an intercepted mobile phone call, audio recordings capture a terrorist calling home in Palestine bragging about how many Jews he has killed. He claims he has murdered “ten Jews” and is using one of his victim’s phones to make the call.

The video then shows chaos in the city streets. Trucks hauling piles of dead bodies race down the road while the terrorists, their assault rifles aimed toward the sky, cheer. A young female victim is passed around in a truck. An Israeli soldier is decapitated with a knife, his head thrown into a box as a trophy. Another man inside a house is seen being mutilated by terrorists using a gardening hoe. In between these grim acts members of Hamas are heard calling for the complete annihilation of Jews.

Security camera footage at a kindergarten shows teachers and children hiding underneath desks. Terrorists enter the early learning facility and shoot them where they hide.

Recovered radio audio by an unknown caller to an unknown recipient asks what he should do with his hostages. The recipient answers that he should “crucify them” in the town square.

The second segment of the video focuses on the Nova music festival, an open-air festival celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot that took place near Kibbutz Reim. Festival goers live stream their reaction to rockets overhead. Hamas soldiers then begin to carry out the civilian massacre shooting anyone and everyone they come across, even searching for those who are fleeing or hiding.

One clip shows a video live streamed by a festival goer of themselves, along with three others, seeking refuge in a portable restroom. A follow up clip shows Hamas body cams unloading shots into each portable restroom. Lastly another clip shows the blood stains left behind by those who tried to hide.

A group of girls seeking refuge in a building console each other. One of them reassures her friend, who is crying, that nothing is going to happen to them right as a man wearing tactical gear and bearing an assault rifle enters the room. The video cuts out here.

The video ends with a slideshow of gruesome photos taken of several victims’ bodies – some burned, some beaten, some mutilated. The bodies include women and children, all of whom are civilians.

Each victim featured in the video only makes up 10% of the, roughly, 1,200 Jews who were killed in Israel when Hamas led the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the holocaust. More Jews were killed that day than any single day during the holocaust and it was also the bloodiest civilian attack in Israel’s history.

Reporters asked the consulate whether the Israeli residents of the cities and settlements attacked harbored anti-Palestinian or radical beliefs. The answer the consulate gave was that it was the contrary. These were towns that were full of Palestinian sympathizers who often accepted Palestinian refugees into their homes, providing food and shelter. Meanwhile the Palestinian refugees they helped, were allegedly reporting to Hamas the number of family members living in each home, if there were a dog or guns, so that Hamas could ensure the annihilation of each and every one of them, according to the consulate.

Prior to local reporters, including the Lynnwood Times, being invited to view the harrowing footage Thursday, a bipartisan group of dozens of lawmakers and Senators attended a closed-door viewing of the footage on November 28.

The audience included Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI), Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, (D-NY), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Republicans Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska.

“There is a level of evil and hate and depravity that defies words, and it is astonishing that there are still some in America and across the globe who deny these atrocities occurred,” Sen. Cruz said of the footage.

Majority Leader Chuck Shumer (D-NY), who was also in attendance delivered a major address on the Senate floor about the “dangerously dark and terrifying trend of antisemitism that is on the rise” the next day.

“It was jarring and harrowing. It shook all of us up in the room. I had to go sit in my office for a half-hour alone after seeing it,” said Schumer of the video’s impact.

A recent poll shows the majority of Palestinians (76%) support the attack. Hamas has been the de facto governing body in the Gaza strip since 2007 when it ousted the Palestinian government from power. While the official purpose of Hamas is to establish a Palestinian state within all of its 1967 borders, many members of Hamas have called for the complete annihilation of the state of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, either through speeches, charters, statements, or public discourse.

Hamas officials have also said their purpose is not to enact utter genocide of the Jewish people but their movement is against Zionism in general – a nationalist movements that emerged during the first World War to establish a home state for Jewish people. Still the video the Israeli consulate released to the Lynnwood Times on Thursday depicts Hamas soldiers bragging about how many Jews they murdered, calling for their complete and utter annihilation.

On Wednesday, December 6, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., Jewish Family Services will hold a webinar titled Navigating Family Mental Health in the Aftermath of October 7, led by experts in trauma, mental health, and parenting. The webinar will explore ways for parents to talk with their children about the conflict, safety, and handling peer interactions.

Attendees will also be introduced to how to recognize the signs of stress and trauma reactions in both adults and children, and understanding the impact of collective and intergenerational trauma. To register visit: https://loom.ly/bw0fyW0.