Channel 4 to show Hamas attack film
One Day in October will air on October 9
A shockingly graphic film, One Day in October, is being screened on Channel 4, two days after the first anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attacks on southern Israel.
The film, narrated by actor Dominic West, focuses on the murders which took place at Kibbutz Be’eri, just three miles from the Gaza Strip, and provides never previously heard public testimony from kibbutzniks. They include interviews with Dublin-born Tom Hand, a member of Be’eri for 30 years, and his daughter Emily, aged nine, who Hand initially thought had been murdered by Hamas.
Director Dan Reed, whose other films include Four Hours in the Capitol, Leaving Neverland and Escape from Kabul Airport, painstakingly unwraps the horror of Be’eri through the evidence of those who survived.
He shows how few people were available to defend the kibbutz, and that a crucial issue was the early murder of the man who held the key to Be’eri’s armoury — so no-one could access weapons.
CCTV footage from the kibbutz reveals that a car driven by three young people escaping from the Nova festival site was able to pass through the kibbutz fence — but that in doing so, breached what little security was left, allowing hundreds of terrorists to flood in to Be’eri.
The film includes GoPro footage from the Hamas attackers — but much more powerful are the recollections to camera of the survivors. They include Racheli, the head of Be’eri’s safety committee, who was besieged with texts and calls from terrified kibbutzniks, begging for help. To each of them, she lied: she reassured them that the army was on its way, knowing, she says now, that the opposite was true and that her friends and neighbours would give up hope if she told them the truth.
At one point, a small team did arrive from an Israeli helicopter, supposedly to rescue people; but they turned back almost immediately when one of their number was wounded by a Hamas terrorist.
Several of those giving testimony speak of their desperate attempts to keep their “bomb shelter” doors closed against the enemy. As is explained in the film, the shelter doors were deliberately designed not to lock and were there to provide protection against weapons and blasts, not from individual terrorists trying to break in.
And so we see images from the kibbutz dental surgery, where several people, including Be’eri’s resident nurse, were sheltering. It resembles nothing so much as an abattoir and makes for extremely grim viewing .
Kibbutz Be’eri, which had a population of 1200, lost 100 people on October 7. Twenty-six people were kidnapped: five of those were murdered in Gaza, 18 released. Three are said still to be held hostage.
A new documentary made by the Aish educational organisation will be released on October 7 in New York and Jerusalem, and will then be available to stream globally. It looks at the experiences of five Israeli families on October 7, three of whom lost family members to Hamas terrorists.
The film is backed by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and reflects heartbreaking testimony from the parents who lost sons in different circumstances. Several of those interviewed have set up charitable endeavours in their sons’ name: they include the Kupershtein family, whose son Bar was kidnapped when he was working as a security guard at the Nova festival, and who is remembered by a project offering men the opportunity to wear tefillin and recite prayers in his memory.
Another family, the Airley family, have opened a facility in Sfat, Beit Binyamin, a retreat centre in the name of Sergeant Binyamin Airley who was killed in action in Gaza. And there is an interview with the parents of Adir Mesika, murdered at Nova. Adir’s father, a jeweller, began by offering a free diamond ring to young men who wanted to propose to their girlfriends. To date, he tells Aish, he has provided 102 rings and expects to continue with the project in his son’s name.
One Day in October will be screened on October 9 on Channel 4 at 9pm
October 7: Voices of pain, hope and heroism will be available from October 7 on YouTube and Twitter/X.
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