In the early hours of October 7, 2023, the Idan family of Kibbutz Nahal Oz was shattered when Hamas terrorists infiltrated their home. As the family tried to take refuge in their safe room, the terrorists murdered their eldest daughter, Maayan, in front of her parents and siblings. the father kidnappedTzachi. The scene was broadcast live on social media, forcing the nation to witness their painful final moments.
At the same time, in Kibbutz Holit, 16-year-old Rotem Matias lay hidden under his mother’s lifeless body and texted his sisters the heartbreaking news: “Mom and Dad are dead. Sorry.”
In Kfar Aza, Roee Idan was killed while holding his three-year-old daughter Abigail, as his older children watched in horror. Their mother, Smadar, was also shot before their eyes. Then the children hid in a closet, locked with their mother’s body, unsure of the fate of their younger sister, who was later kidnapped to Gaza.
ISRAELI POLICE SAY EXTREME SEXUAL VIOLENCE, RAPE BY HAMAS TERRORISTS WAS SYSTEMATIC
A bloody handprint stains a wall in a house in Nir Oz after Hamas terrorists attacked this kibbutz near the Gaza border days earlier. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
These are just a few of the countless stories documented in one new report released Tuesday, co-authored by Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, founder of the Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes Against Women and Children, and Dr. Michal Gilad and Dr. Ilya Rudyak. The report introduces the term “kinocide” to describe the systematic targeting and destruction of family units during the attack – an unprecedented atrocity that goes beyond typical warfare.
“A crime without a name for victims without a voice,” as Dr. Elkayam-Levy described it. “The perpetrators not only killed, but also deliberately sought to destroy the foundation of human society: the family.”
“The most difficult crimes to witness were those involving families,” continued Dr. Elkayam-Levy. ‘While the Hamas perpetrators As they celebrated their violence, chanted religious slogans and broadcast their actions on social media, the terror was not limited to the direct victims but was amplified worldwide.”
“The use of social media was crucial in spreading the terror and inspired similar acts of violence elsewhere,” Merav Israeli-Amarant, CEO of the Civil Commission, told Fox News Digital. She called this tactic the “terror filter,” a term coined by legal scholar Tehila Schwartz Altshuler, who explained how the broadcasts were designed to radicalize and incite other terrorists.
Israeli soldiers remove the bodies of civilians killed days earlier in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on this kibbutz near the Gaza border, on October 10, 2023, in Kfar Aza, Israel. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
As Elkayam-Levy and her team dug deeper, they realized that similar tactics have been documented in conflicts around the world, from Argentina and Iraq to Syria, Sierra Leone and Myanmar. “We have been in contact with survivors of kinocide, including Yazidiswho shared their experiences. The pain is universal. This has happened before, but it never had a name,” said Dr. Elkayam-Levy.
In collaboration with the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, the commission has worked to identify these abuse patterns and ensure that kinocide is recognized as a separate crime. The new report, released after a year of investigation, includes interviews with survivors, visits to the sites where the atrocities took place and a comprehensive review of evidence. The aim is to bring kinocide into the international legal discourse, advocating its urgent need to be recognized as a separate crime.
A woman collapses at the memorial to Yulia Waxer Daunov as relatives and friends of the lost and abducted gather at the site of the Nova Festival marking the one-year anniversary of the attacks by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2024 in Re’Ik , Israel. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Professor Irwin Cotler, former Minister of Justice of Canada and International Chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, stated: “Silence in the face of such evil is not neutrality; it is complicity. Worse, there has been denial, justification, and even glorification of these heinous acts, underscoring the moral and legal imperative to act decisively against such crimes. The dangers of anti-Semitism are not only the oldest and most deadly forms of hatred, but also a harbinger of global evil, as evidenced by the events of October 7.”
“We need an international coalition to address this systematic attack on families,” Elkayam-Levy said. ‘But international law does the survivors failed of October 7. The current legal frameworks do not sufficiently protect families from these types of attacks.’
An Israeli couple with their national flag walk in front of graffiti calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel in Jerusalem on November 18, 2023. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images)
The report, which has been endorsed by international law experts and human rights activists around the world, highlights the urgent need for legal and social recognition of kinocide. However, despite widespread support for the report, Elkayam-Levy expressed concern about the international community’s response.
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As someone who, in response to her latest, faced denial from prominent figures in the international human rights community report on sexual violence on October 7, she said: “We live in dark times when international law is being used against us (Israelis) in terrifying ways. As an international human rights scholar, I never thought we would live in a time where such abuse is targeted at us. It really scares me.”
