Former Gaza Hostage Blasts Anti-Israel Film in WSJ Op-Ed
Former Gaza hostage Omer Shem Tov wrote in The Wall Street Journal critiquing the anti-Israel film 'Collateral Damage' for ignoring Hamas's atrocities and erasing hostages' experiences.
Former Gaza hostage Omer Shem Tov published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal responding to the controversial anti-Israel documentary film "Collateral Damage" ("NZA" in Hebrew), which won a special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival. Shem Tov, who survived 505 days in Hamas captivity after being abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, argued that the film distorts reality by omitting Hamas's atrocities and the context of the war.
"If an Israeli bomb had killed me, Hamas would have won twice: I would have been dead, and Israel would have been blamed," Shem Tov wrote. He noted that while he feared starvation and his captors, he also feared the Israeli Air Force above, whose pilots did not know his location. He recounted how his captors would flee during expected strikes, leaving him behind, viewing destruction as a victory for Hamas.
The Moral Dilemma of Urban Warfare
Shem Tov reflected on the measures taken by the IDF to mitigate civilian casualties, contrasting them with Hamas's exploitation of suffering. He recalled a moment when a captor's mother received an advance warning call from the IDF telling her to evacuate her home, even as her son tortured and starved him in the same building.
"Israel wanted me home desperately. But not at any cost. There were Palestinian civilians between Israel and me. So Israel dropped flyers, sent texts, made phone calls, and ordered evacuations. She tried to minimize the collateral damage," Shem Tov wrote.
Addressing casualty statistics, he pointed out that military experts estimate between 1.5 and 2 Palestinian civilians killed per combatant—a relatively low ratio for intense urban warfare, achieved through deliberate IDF warnings and restraint that unfortunately also exposed Israeli soldiers to greater danger and left hostages waiting longer.
Venice Film Festival and Moral Clarity
Commenting on the 24-minute standing ovation the film received in Venice, Shem Tov described it as feeling like a rain of knives. He emphasized that while Palestinian suffering is real and deserves attention, the film erases the October 7 massacre and portrays Israel's defensive war as morally suspect.
"Military power, weapons, and technology matter," Shem Tov concluded. "But a society’s ability to defend itself must depend on something simpler: the moral clarity of knowing it has the right to do so. There must never be another October 7. We have the right to ensure there won't be. And we should not be ashamed of it."
