Two years ago today, Hamas terrorists launched the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. They burned families alive, slaughtered babies, and kidnapped civilians from their homes. They raped women and paraded hostages through the streets of Gaza as trophies. For a brief moment, the world seemed united in horror.

How could anyone forget what we saw that day? The image of 22-year-old Shani Louk’s lifeless body thrown into the back of a truck and driven through Gaza is burned into my memory. It was a glimpse into who these people really are. And now, two years later, we are at a point where a memorial vigil for October 7 victims in New York City gets canceled because of pressure from pro-Hamas groups.

The focus stopped being on the attacks themselves and started shifting toward support for Hamas. People who should have been horrified started justifying what they did. Hating Jews is being treated like it’s acceptable now, but it isn’t. It never will be.

Eli Sharabi’s Story

That shift is why stories like Eli Sharabi’s matter so much. Because behind every statistic, every news headline, every political talking point, there is a real human being whose life was shattered on that day. Eli was dragged from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri and held underground for 491 days. The only thing that kept him alive was the hope of being reunited with his wife and daughters. He didn’t know they were already gone. They murdered the women in their home the very day he was taken.

“You know, 50 metres underground, you actually understand the meaning in life.”

Eli Sharabi was a hostage for 491 days but he’s eternally a hero.

His wife Lian and daughters Noya and Yahel were murdеrеd. He didn’t find out until his release.

Find the 8 minutes to watch this. pic.twitter.com/tXiPqV5MOt

— dahlia kurtz ✡︎ דליה קורץ (@DahliaKurtz) September 30, 2025

Eli is one of the first hostages to write a book about what he went through. I can’t even begin to imagine it. The title is just one word, but it carries the weight of everything he miraculously survived: Hostage.

I’ll be purchasing the audiobook today because his voice deserves to be heard. His story isn’t just about survival. It’s a window into the reality of who and what Hamas is and a reminder of what too many people would rather ignore.

We Have to Be Louder Than Their Lies

The people who glorify Hamas are never going to read his book or listen to survivors like him, but that is exactly why the rest of us have to keep resharing these stories. The more we speak up, the harder it becomes for them to drown out the truth.

By the time he was released, Eli’s body was broken. Starved down to 97 pounds, he had been beaten, tortured, and stripped of his dignity. He spent his days in total darkness, crammed into filthy spaces crawling with worms, bugs, and rats. He had no idea that his wife and daughters had been shot dead just minutes after Hamas dragged him from their home, or that his brother was already gone too.

He didn’t know that Israel was at war or that 101 of his Be’eri neighbors had lost their lives in the October 7 attacks that left some 1,200 dead. Right before his release, he learned that his brother, Yossi, was killed in captivity.

Ahead of a release ceremony in Gaza, where he recalls depraved spectators hooting, a Hamas official coached Sharabi — who weighed just 97 pounds — on his response to questions about being free: “I say I’m really excited to see my wife and daughter.”

“It was our last humiliation,” he told The Post of the propaganda spectacle. But “I imagined my daughters and Lianne would be running to me. I was very excited.”

When Sharabi was finally turned over, an Israeli social worker told him his mother and sister were waiting for him. And his wife and daughters?

“Your mother and sister will tell you,” he recalled the woman saying.

Immediately, he understood that they were gone. – New York Post

Roughly 48 hostages are still being held in Gaza, and about 20 are believed to be alive. But instead of outrage and demands for their release, the conversation now revolves around how much restraint Israel should show. Instead of pressure on Hamas, there are protests blaming the victims. Instead of calling terrorism by its name, we see attempts to justify it as resistance. And now, some countries are going even further by rewarding Hamas with recognition and pushing for them to have a state of their own.

The Rot Is Inside Our Own Walls

Hamas is winning its war right here in America. Our universities are churning out pro-Hamas activists by the thousands. People flood the streets cheering for murderers as if it’s some kind of justice. The media isn’t just reporting on the hate, it’s spreading it.

October 7 should have been a moral line in the sand. Instead, it became a green light for hatred to come out into the open. And now, on the two-year anniversary of the massacre, universities across the country are planning a coordinated event called Rally, Rage, and Resist – Pro-Hamas Student Groups Plan Nationwide Protests on Oct. 7 Anniversary

This is not just hatred growing on the fringes. It is hatred rewarded, encouraged, and mainstreamed because the world decided that excusing evil was easier than confronting it.

Eli Sharabi’s story is a warning. The hatred that put him in chains is still alive, and now it’s marching openly in broad daylight. Two years after October 7, antisemitism is everywhere. And the question is no longer whether we remember. The question is whether we’re willing to confront it.

Feature Photo Credit: Israel flags and photos as remembrance at Nova music festival site via iStock, cropped and modified