Brussels 06.11.2023 Anna Van Densky The members of the Brussels press corps have participated in the screening of the assembled fragments of the video and photo evidence of the Hamas terrorists’ crimes on October 7. The event took place in the Israel Embassy in Belgium in presence of two Ambassadors, who answered questions of journalists.

The screening was attended by both Israel top diplomats: the Ambassador of Israel to the EU and NATO H.E. Mr. Haim Regev and the Ambassador of Israel to Belgium and Luxembourg H.E. Mrs. Idit Rosenzweig Abu.
The visual evidence of the Hamas crimes was deeply disturbing, and due to the request of the families of the victims, no electronic devices, including cellphones, were allowed to avoid media leaks.

The Ambassadors expressed concern with the evolution of the situation under various political influences, which led to diminishing of the magnitude of Hamas atrocities, and even some random attempts to justify their hideous crimes. H.E. Mr. Haim Regev said the scale of the terrorist acts, the gravity, and its sickening cruelty was compatible to the crimes against humanity.

However the video footage was shown to the international press in an attempt to remind about the origin of the war against Hamas, which was a reaction to their unspeakable atrocities performed at large scale, leaving more than 1400 dead behind, and more than 240 hostages. The diplomat regretted the change of the current in public opinion, attempting to rationalize, and to some degree to explain the hideous crimes of Hamas against the civilian population of Israel. He suggested that the footage might be shown further to the members of governments, and parliaments to ensure the relevant assessment of the situation, and the understanding of the Israel’s leadership determination to defeat terrorism.

At present humanitarian pauses would benefit Hamas, and elevate their chances to survival, prolonging the military operations, and causing even more casualties. The Ambassador underlined the cynicism of Hamas fighters using civilians as human shields. He also insisted on the need of the intense anti-terrorist actions, in the best interest not only of Israel’ citizens, but also the larger international community, and the Palestinians themselves. Although the diplomat acknowledged the perspective of the Two-State solution, he considered it premature under current tragic circumstances, degenerated under the leadership of the Hamas, pointing at the dismantling of the terrorists as the sine qua non condition of any durable normalization.
The Ambassador spoke highly about moral support of the EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and European Parliament president Roberta Metsola, being first among the leaders to pay visit the week after the terrorist attack, which meant a lot to people of Israel.

Along with her colleague H.E. Mrs. Idit Rosenzweig Abu was appalled by the attempts of various players to regard as relative the crimes of Hamas terrorists. As an example she mentioned the position of the Belgium Ecolo party, which were “not sure” if the actions of Hamas fighters were relevant to the terrorist crimes. She also mention left-wing trends in the social media, aimed at elevating Hamas to “freedom-fighters” suffering in Gaza “open air prison”. The diplomat reminded about the major U.S. strategies to defeat ISIS, and they were military offensive in the context of cutting of any resources. In the actual situation, the defeat of Hamas is an absolute priority of the Israel government, which has an obligation to uphold right to life of the citizens, but also it will be conducive to the Palestinians, which are prime victims of Hamas terrorists, using them as shields, while having safe refuge in the tunnels under Gaza. The Ambassador invited members of the Belgium government to the footage screening, calling them to acknowledge the imminent danger of Hamas.

In the aftermath of the massive terrorist attack, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) created a 46 minutes long sequence of footage taken by the Hamas terrorists, IDF, CCTV from the houses invaded by terrorists, and intercepted telephone conversations of Hamas. This visual evidence collection has been screened to international media in Israel and in the U.S.