On Monday night, students clipped on name tags, shuffled through metal detectors, and placed their phones in yellow manila envelopes, bracing themselves to witness unfathomable horrors. In Harvard Art Museums’ Menschel Hall, around 150 Harvard affiliates and Cambridge community members watched footage filmed by Hamas during its October 7 terrorist attack. The 46-minute film compiled by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) shows roughly 10 percent of the approximately 1,200 Israeli deaths.
Attendees watched Hamas terrorists lob a grenade into a civilian bomb shelter, burn a house to draw out the family hiding in its safe room, attempt to behead an elderly man, shoot into portable toilets at a music festival, and gloat about their slaughter. The IDF did not include footage of rape or other sexual violence, the killing of babies or children, or the mutilation of bodies, said introductory speaker Lt. Col. Amnon Shefler M.P.A. ‘23, IDF spokesperson for international media.
When first approached by the IDF about a screening, Harvard Chabad president Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi did not want to show the film. But he observed the “Holocaust-like denial” of the October 7 massacre and believed that “a film that nobody should have to see” suddenly felt necessary. Generally, said Zarchi, Judaism discourages the viewing of such murder, but the faith makes an exception “if it will actually have the effect of preserving life.”
Until now, the IDF has screened this footage primarily for lawmakers and journalists. (The IDF has not released the film to the general public, said Shefler, out of respect for the victims and their families.) Although most Harvard students are not yet in positions of power, Zarchi said that it was important for students to see the film “so they can speak with moral clarity.”
Harvard was the first Ivy League school to host a screening, said Gilad Erdan, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations. The introductory speakers did not treat that designation as a point of pride, but rather as atonement for antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiment on campus. “A tsunami of antisemitism has swept across Harvard,” said Erdan. “For a school that puts ‘veritas’ – truth – above all, this is particularly shameful.”
To some, watching the October 7 footage was akin to consuming graphic Holocaust media: emotionally taxing but necessary. Bill Ackman ’88, M.B.A.’92, a hedge fund billionaire who has criticized the University for insufficiently denouncing antisemitism, spoke about the first time his parents showed him a Holocaust documentary. Despite the film’s graphic content, his parents said it was important for him to understand the scale of the atrocity, he recalled, fighting back tears. Ackman also acknowledged the suffering of Palestinians, saying “I feel horrible for the untold number of innocent lives that will be lost.”
Prefacing the video, speakers discussed the meaning of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a pro-Palestinian line recently condemned by President Claudine Gay. “For Hamas,” said Erdan, “'from the river to the sea' is a literal action plan to annihilate the one and only Jewish state.” After the screening, Shefler called the phrase “a genocidal ideology.”
In the audience were members of Harvard’s administration, including Harvard College dean Rakesh Khurana, who was invited by a student. “I feel like we all have to listen more to each other,” said Khurana after the screening. “Bigotry and discrimination rest on misunderstanding… Education can be a candle in the dark.” Khurana has spoken with both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine students, including meeting with a group of pro-Palestine students occupying University Hall in mid-November.
Ackman—who hosted the post-film question and answer session—promised future dialogue. He praised Dartmouth College for hosting academic forums about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Those events featured scholars with different identities from across the political spectrum. At Harvard, Ackman hopes to host a conversation between Israeli and Palestinian experts alongside University administrators.
UPDATED December 5, 6:45 P.M.: Ambassador Gilad Erdan's quotes have been corrected after Harvard Magazine received a written copy of his speech.
