Greg Bouwer
IINZ
Where were you on October 7, 2023, when the largest massacre of Jews since the Shoah took place? Where were you in the days that followed, as Israel, still reeling from the unimaginable loss and coming to terms with the full depravity of the attack, struggled to defend its borders? Where were you when Hamas itself released high-definition footage of its own brutality – proudly showcasing its horrific acts – only for some to twist reality and claim it was an Israeli operation?
Since that fateful day, Israel has been under constant attack. Tens of thousands of rockets have rained down indiscriminately from Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and even Iran, targeting civilians. And yet the world responded with silence at best, or by blaming Israel at worst. When Israel defended her citizens, as any nation would, world leaders (including our own and others from democratic nations) largely railed against the ‘aggressor’ and defended Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran.
Beyond the visible battlefield, another horror unfolded: the fate of the hostages. Innocent people, stolen from their homes during Hamas’s murderous spree on October 7, were taken back to Gaza and imprisoned under unimaginable conditions. Tortured physically and psychologically. Deprived of their dignity and, for many, their lives.
Even after a ceasefire was brokered in an effort to secure the release of both the living and the dead, the vilification of Israel and Jews only intensified. Hostages returned through the Red Cross, a seemingly active partner of Hamas (not doing anything for the hostages despite their charter and then acquiescing to all of Hamas’s theatrics during the handovers instead of demanding dignity for the hostages, both alive and dead), were subjected to psychological terrorism, their suffering paraded as a spectacle. When Israel finally began receiving the bodies of those kidnapped and murdered, Hamas’s depravity reached new depths.
Even the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk, who had remained largely silent since October 7, finally found the moral clarity to denounce Hamas’s “abhorrent and cruel” parading of bodies, admitting that their treatment “flies in the face of international law”.
Where were you when Hamas handed over coffins, locked and without keys, and with “arrested on 07 October 2023” written on the side? When they even lied about the identities of the remains? After screaming for 500+ days about the fate of children in Gaza (yet silent about children in Israel…).
And where were you when masses in Gaza took to the streets overnight – not in sorrow, not in protest of violence – but in celebration of the murder of four Israeli civilians? This is not the behavior of a people yearning for peace. This is the result of generations of indoctrination, where children are not taken to parks or soccer games but rather to cheer as bodies are desecrated. This is not the work of a ‘resistance movement’ – it is the work of monsters.
Take the case of Kfir Bibas, kidnapped at just nine months old. He was murdered in captivity, his coffin paraded through Gaza to the applause of the crowd. His mother, Shiri Bibas, was similarly “arrested” – for what crime? For being a Jewish mother? What was Kfir guilty of? What crime had Ariel, his older brother, committed?
And this grotesque display was not the work of a fringe group. It was organized by six different terrorist factions:
- Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’ military wing)
- Al-Quds Brigades (Islamic Jihad’s military wing)
- Al-Mujahideen Brigades
- Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades
- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
- Al-Ahrar Movement
All supported by the ‘innocent citizens’ of Gaza, where Hamas is still seen as the best leadership option despite falling support (January 2025 survey formulated by the research group Artis International and Oxford University’s Changing Character of War Centre and carried out by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research).
The notoriously biased UN finally found the backbone to condemn Hamas too, with Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for Guterres confirming – “I can tell you that the secretary-general condemns the parading of bodies and displaying of the coffins of the deceased hostages in the manner seen this (Thursday) morning, which is abhorrent and appalling.”
All while NZ has remained silent. And Prime Minister Luxon has still not designated the PFLP as a terror entity, allowing New Zealand dollars to flow to them.
The World Must Not Look Away
The events of October 7 and their aftermath have laid bare an uncomfortable truth: the battle Israel fights is not just one of borders or politics but one of fundamental morality. This is not a war between two equal sides. This is a fight between civilization and barbarism.
Those who remain silent in the face of such evil are complicit. Those who equivocate – who justify, who “contextualize” – enable the continued suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians. If there is to be a future for both peoples, the world must stand firm against terror, reject moral relativism, and demand accountability.
It is time to speak up. The world cannot afford to look away. Where are you now?
This article was originally published by the Israel Institute of New Zealand.
