Sheryl Sandberg Tells Fox News Why She Made Harrowing Doc On Hamas Oct. 7 Rapes: ‘The World Needs to See’
Former Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg joined Fox News anchor Dana Perino on Friday to discuss her new documentary, Screams of Silence, about the horrors of Oct. 7 – particularly Hamas’s systemic use of rape and torture.
“Sheryl, you’re not a documentarian,” Perino noted to kick off the interview.
“I am not,” Sandberg replied.
“Why did you want to do this?” asked Perino.
“Because as you just said, after October 7th, the reports were coming out about not just mass murder, but mass sexual violence, and the usual people who should be speaking out were either ignoring it or denying it. And that’s not okay. And this documentary gives anyone a chance to hear directly from first responders,” Sandberg replied, adding:
You know, in this documentary, I walk into a kind of a forest field with this guy named Rami. Huge guy. Regular citizen. Sirens go off on October 7th. He’s in Israel. He drove to where the terrorists were rescued. Hundreds of people. But he also got to this forest. And he saw women naked, legs spread, bloodied, tied to trees. And he sits there in this documentary and tells that story, crying that he couldn’t save them. And I think the world needs to see and acknowledge what happened here.
Perino then plays a clip from Sandberg’s documentary in which she speaks to a first responder who shows her photos from the bodies he saw, which included mutilated breasts, women shot in the groin, bodies with nails hammered into them, feet cut off, and other atrocities.
“Sheryl, Hamas when they did the attack. Sexual assault was part of the plan. And I think people don’t necessarily realize it wasn’t just like random guys that were like decided to be violent. They wanted to commit these sexual assaults,” Perino followed up.
“I believe that, and I think anyone who sees this documentary will believe that, because this happened at multiple locations. Body after body coming in naked. I asked one of the witnesses in the film who processed dead bodies after the tragedy and terrorism in multiple locations. In your experience, how often are they naked? And he looks up and he says, never. This was on purpose. Part of a systematic attack for terror,” Sandberg replied.
Peirno then asked, “So one of the things that really bothered me… is that women’s groups are pretty much silent. It took them forever to even say something to you at the UN. It took them months, even to send somebody over to look at what happened to women there. And not just women. There were sexual assaults on men as well that were victims there. And we have all been watching this week, this explosion of the protests on campus, the pro-Hamas. And you have all of these young women at these campuses who really should see this documentary to understand what it is they are ignoring. Would you like them to be able to see this?”
“Absolutely. It’s why we made it,” Sandberg replied, adding:
Look, these are polarized times and I think people are having trouble when things don’t fit into their narrative. If you believe that October 7th was resistance, and I do not believe that, I don’t believe terror is resistance. But if you believe that sexual violence doesn’t fit into that narrative because rape is never resistance, and this documentary gives people a chance to hear from first responders, from released hostages. One of them, Amit Soussanna, bravely tells her story of herself, held for five months, chained to a bed, sexually assaulted. And right now, as you and I are here, there are still hostages there, and we know they’re being sexually assaulted and people need to see what’s really happening here.
Watch the full interview above.
