There is a recording the West would much rather you never heard. On October 7, a man who had just poured across the border into Israel called his father — not in fear, but in celebration. “𝘋𝘢𝘥, 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘶 𝘈𝘬𝘣𝘢𝘳, 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘬!𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 10 𝘑𝘦𝘸𝘴”, he said. “𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥”. He was not done. He told his father he was speaking “𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦” — the phone of a Jewish woman he had just m∗rdered. In the clip he even insists he is “𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯”, not a fighter, as if that somehow softens the boast. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐬.
This was no isolated outburst. The IDF released multiple recordings of October 7 attackers phoning relatives to brag about the bodies they left behind (Times of Israel). In the most infamous of them, the caller — later identified as Mahmoud Afana — boasted that he alone had 𝐤!𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟎 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐛𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐳 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐢𝐦 and begged his parents to check his WhatsApp for proof. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭. Afana was later k!lled in an Israeli airstrike (Times of Israel).
Remember this the next time you are lectured that both sides are morally equivalent, that “𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵” excuses the slaughter, that this was somehow “𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦”. 𝐀 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝. That is not a military tactic. It is a culture that teaches its sons that m∗rdering Jews is the highest honor they can bring home. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐬. 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞.
