On October 7, Palestinian terrorists slaughtered hundreds of Jewish civilians and kidnapped dozens of others, including children and the elderly. The next morning, Mustafa Barghouti appeared on CNN to share what host Fareed Zakaria introduced as a “Palestinian viewpoint” on the Hamas attack.
Barghouti, a former Palestinian Authority information minister, insisted the invaders had no choice but to murder (“Of course Palestinians turned to resistance”). He suggested that the killers shouldn’t be viewed as terrorists (“The question here is not about dehumanizing Palestinians as is happening and calling them terrorists”).
Almost as quickly, he turned to falsehoods and atrocity denial. When Zakaria pointed out that “what Hamas is doing is … targeting Israeli civilians, women, children, grandmothers,” Barghouti cut him off: “No, they are not.”
Zarkia continued: “Isn’t that classic terrorism? They’re not fighting the Israel government. They’re fighting ordinary people.”
To which Barghouti responded: “That’s one way of putting it. But it’s not true.”
To pretend Hamas didn’t target Israeli civilians or attack ordinary people despite overwhelming proof to the contrary—video, photos, eyewitness accounts, and family testimony—is inexcusable. Moustafa Barghouti flatly lied to his television audience, and did so in order to deny an atrocity.
Zakaria didn’t hold the line, and simply moved on to his next question.
Below is a small sample of the testimony by family members of those killed and kidnapped during the Hamas’s October 7 massacre. Please note: These are not easy to watch. But denial must be confronted with facts.
Testimony of Family Members
Noa Argamani’s father: “I was hoping it was a mistake… It was Noa, she was so petrified.”
Braha Levinson’s granddaughter Mor Bayder: “I opened [Facebook] from my phone, and I saw the worst imaginable disaster.”
Shaked Haran: “At some point my father said that they are in trouble, and that they love us.”
Ilan Troen: “She reported broken glass. And that was really the last we heard from her. The next we heard was from her son…”
Yuval Rafael: “Daddy, I’m getting crushed… I’ve got dead people on me.”
Adam Ma’anit: “We only learned a few days later that Hamas filmed it.”
Testimony of First Responders
Zaka search-and-rescue official Yossi Landau.
The following clips include explicit descriptions of a gruesome atrocity.