Sheryl Sandberg unveils documentary on Hamas' ‘systematic’ sexual violence on Oct. 7

Rape is targeted. Rape is terror. Rape is torture. The world has to decide who to believe. Do we believe the Hamas spokesperson who said that rape is forbidden, therefore it couldn’t have possibly happened on October 7th? Or do we believe the women whose bodies tell us how they spent the last minutes of their lives? It’s inexcusable when those who have the capacity to make a difference don’t. Sheryl Sandberg at the United Nations last December, calling for leaders to condemn the sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7th. But nearly seven months later, it seems much of the world has either forgotten or just downplayed the horrors of that day. Sheryl Sandberg’s new documentary is serving as their reminder. It’s titled Screams Before Silence and Details the Harrowing accounts of victims and 1st responders. Here’s a clip from a woman who survived the massacre at the Nova Music Festival. When you hear this chaos for like 20 minutes or 15 minutes, you understand that something much worse happening right over there. And it’s not it’s it doesn’t stop. That was the the, the, the time when I started to be afraid I’m going to be raped. Sheryl Sandberg is the host of this documentary. She’s also the former chief operating officer of Facebook and the founder of leanin.org and a great best selling book that I saw a lot of young women continuing to read. And Sheryl, you’re not a documentarian. I am not. Why did you want to do this? Because, as you just said, after October 7th, the reports were coming out about not just mass murder, but mass sexual violence and the usual people who should be speaking out. We’re either ignoring it or denying it, and that’s not OK. And this documentary gives anyone a chance to hear directly from first responders. You know, in this documentary, I walk into a kind of a forest field with this guy named Rami, huge guy, regular citizen Sirens go off on October 7th. He’s in Israel. He drove to where the terrorists were rescued, hundreds of people. But he also got to this forest and he saw women naked, like spread bloodied, tied to trees. And he sits there in this documentary and tells that story, crying that he couldn’t save them. And I think the world needs to see and acknowledge what happened here. I think we have a bit of that to play for everybody here. Watch if it’s OK. I’d like to see some of what you saw. As you can see, the body was brutal and different. The stages. This is the part of the breast. I’ll be here and I’ll be here and I’ll be here. And what is that there? That’s one foot. That’s the other foot. This is the body with the nails and the parts. When we get closer and closer, you can see the nails. Oh, my God, Cheryl. Hamas, when they did the attack, sexual assault was part of the plan, correct? And I think people don’t necessarily realize it wasn’t just like random guys that were, like, decided to be violent. They wanted to commit these sexual assaults. I believe that. And I think anyone who sees this documentary will believe that because this was happened at multiple locations, body after body, coming in naked. I asked one of the witnesses in the film who’s processed dead bodies after tragedy and terrorism in multiple locations. In your experience, how often are they naked? And he looks up and he says never. This was on purpose, part of a systematic attack for terror. So one of the things that really bothered me, and I know you and many and some other people but not enough people, is that women’s groups are pretty much silent. It took them forever to even say something. The UN’s at the UN. It took them months even to send somebody over to look at what happened to women there. And not just women. There were sexual assaults on men as well that were victims there. And we are all been watching this week this explosion of the protests on campus, the pro Hamas. And you have all of these young women at these campuses who really should see this documentary to understand what it is they are ignoring. Would you like them to be able to see this? Absolutely. It’s why we made it. Look, these are polarized times, and I think people are having trouble when things don’t fit into their narrative. If you believe that October 7th was resistance, and I do not believe that, I don’t believe terror is resistance. But if you believe that, sexual violence doesn’t fit into that narrative, because rape is never resistance. And this documentary gives people a chance to hear from first responders from released hostages. One of them, Amit Susana, bravely tells her story of herself held for five months, chained to a bed, sexually assaulted. And right now, as you and I are here, there are still hostages there, and we know they’re being sexually assaulted. And people need to see what’s really happening here. Do you find it strange and upsetting or just baffling? Or maybe it’s a diplomatic strategy that the White House doesn’t talk about the hostages very much or ever. Well, I was really grateful that on Passover, President Biden posted for Passover but also talked about the sexual violence. Look, I think this is a nonpartisan, bipartisan issue. No matter what you believe, we fought long and hard to make sure sexual violence was never used as a tool of war. It doesn’t matter what else you believe should happen in the Middle East or anywhere in the world. Sexual violence shouldn’t be happening and everyone needs to be outspoken and outraged when it does. What do you think should be taught at universities about October 7th? Look, what’s going on on our university campuses is really not OK. I mean, look, I’m a big believer in free speech. I know you are. University is a time where you go to college. You can talk about any issue, open dialogue. But when you see students yelling at the Columbia campus to a Jewish student go back to Poland, when you see someone saying October 7th is going to happen to you, you had someone on your show who got her eye almost poked out at Yale. That’s not OK. And the truth is the disorder on campus having places where people don’t feel safe, that doesn’t lend itself to real dialogue about heart issues that stops the honest conversations we need to have. College campuses need to keep our kids safe, and we continue to see like faculties involved, right? And faculty preventing press from coming in and doing interviews. You’ve done a lot of amazing things in your career. Do you consider this one of your most important projects? Yes. This has become, you know, the most important work of my life because in this moment, we lose too much if we turned a blind eye to sexual violence and to the threat that this poses. I mean, I look at this, you know, the terrorists here aren’t subtle. They say we’re coming back. October 7th was just the beginning. They don’t just say death to Israel. They say death to America. This is a threat to our democracy and our way of life. And people need to see clearly what happened. And I think sexual violence really brings that home. So I’m hoping people watch the doctor. Anything we can do to help the women that you interviewed who are in recovery now? Look, the sad truth is almost all of the victims of this sexual violence are dead. They are gone. We have just a few people who are alive to tell their story, but we have first responders telling the story. And yes, when we bear witness, when you talk about it, when you cover it on your show, I’m grateful to be here, you are giving these women who are silenced their voice and making sure the world sees what we’re up against here, the depth of this terror. Where can people see your new documentary, YouTube called Screams Before Silence, Screams Before Silence. I’m so happy that you came on to do the show. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dana.