Of the many atrocities that have resulted from the horrendous 7 October 2023 Hamas led terrorist attack against Israel – in which 1200 people were killed and hundreds of innocent people taken hostage – it is the deafening silence towards the barbaric sexual assaults inflicted upon the women of Israel that is the most unsettling.
A stark reminder to the constantly preoccupied world about the atrocities committed against Israel’s women on that dark day is the 60-minute documentary Screams Before Silence, which has been made available for free online.
Presented by former Meta COO and Lean In founder Sheryl Sandberg, Screams Before Silence features interviews with experts, first responders, eyewitnesses, and survivors of the October 7 massacre.
The director of Screams Before Silence is Anat Stalinsky. Her work on numerous Israeli films, documentaries and TV programs resulted in the young filmmaker being chosen to helm a documentary that delves into a devastating moment in recent Israeli history, with filming on Screams Before Silence commencing mere months after the October 7 attack.
For Stalinsky, taking on a project like Screams Before Silence was done without apprehension. “I agreed immediately. I didn’t even think about it,” said Stalinsky from Israel. “I felt a calling that I had to do this, and I didn’t think about how it was going to affect me. I thought about it afterwards when I was deep into the process, but it was too late. It’s hard. It took its toll dealing with that, but what the movie gave me is much more than the difficulties of it.”
One of the more difficult elements that Stalinsky grappled with was how to communicate the graphic nature of the sexual abuse committed, without presenting explicit imagery and language. Still, Screams Before Silence begins with a trigger warning due to the descriptions of the horrendous brutality of the sexual assaults; one expert stating that Hamas “have redefined evil” through their sadistic acts.
“We chose not to go too explicit with the visuals and in the way that the people speak, although the testimonies are horrific,” said Stalinsky. “There were a lot of people who I wanted to work with me on this documentary: video editors, researchers, and a lot of them didn’t agree. They said that it’s important, but they couldn’t deal with the subject, and I understood that.”
The strength of Screams Before Silence lies in the testimony of the eyewitnesses and survivors of the October 7 attack. While securing interviews is an essential part of the documentary process, Stalinsky and her producers again had to approach this element of the job with a high level of sensitivity, with the physical and psychological wounds still raw for those who survived an extremely traumatic experience.
“It’s very individual. There were people who we approached, and they said immediately, ‘yes, I have to tell this story. I feel it’s my duty, although it’s very hard to talk about, I’m going to come and talk’. There were also people who did not agree. Sitting in front of a camera, being yourself, telling the story, telling the trauma, it’s hard.
“You know, in Gaza, the hostages are going through hell right now,” Stalinsky adds. “We don’t have the perspective. We’re not talking about movies about the Holocaust, like years after, you know? This is happening right now. We are doing the documentary right now, as it happens.
“So, to everyone who came forward and spoke, although it was really emotional and not an easy process, I’m so grateful and honoured. And I’m really in awe because it takes a lot of courage to speak.”
Especially courageous in Screams Before Silence is the testimony from Amit Soussana, a 40-year-old lawyer who was home sick with a fever when Hamas attacked Kibbutz Kaz Afhar and took her hostage. Amit was released on November 30 as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel and would later reveal she was sexually abused while in captivity.
“She’s a victim of sexual violence. And unfortunately, this happens to a lot of women around the world,” said Stalinsky. “It takes a lot of time, sometimes 20 or 30 years, (for victims) to confront and to talk about it, and in the movie, she talks about how she felt ashamed and guilty, even though I know it’s not her fault. She’s been assaulted by a terrorist, but she felt those feelings, which are natural to feel, (so) when she talks about (her experience), it makes her feel better, makes her feel released from that.
“I think it’s a great inspiration for any woman out there who unfortunately went through something like that, and I think it’s very inspirational to come out and say, ‘Yeah, it happened to me, but it’s not my fault, and I’m not going to feel ashamed about it’. (Amit) is the greatest; she’s the most inspiring woman I ever met. She’s one of the most powerful, the most strong, the most brave.”
Amit Soussana, as seen in Screams Before Silence
Australia has seen the scourge of domestic violence against women become a national crisis issue. Frustratingly, though, the sexual abuse atrocities that took place on October 7 have rarely been talked about amidst an information war that has seen a plethora of misinformation, and shockingly, in some cases, denials, regarding the horrendous truth about the sadistic and calculated actions by Hamas to humiliate Israel by defiling the bodies of its female citizens.
“For months, the worldwide women’s organisations were silent. It’s like, I don’t know if you’ve heard of the phrase, ‘it’s #MeToo unless you’re a Jew’…” said Stalinsky. “It’s unthinkable. I think this is why the movie is so important.
“Rape is not resistance. Rape is not a form of freedom fighting, yet some people have a problem with that narrative. They’re just ignoring the rape part and thinking about war between two countries. This is why there is denial, this is why the people just don’t want to think about it, but it happened. All we want to do is show tMatthhe world. Just watch. Just watch what happened. That’s all. You don’t have to say anything. Just watch.”
Screams Before Silence is available to watch for free at its official website www.screamsbeforesilence.com
