On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the documentary The Children of October 7, which was made with the participation of singer/influencer Montana Tucker, was released on Paramount+ with MTV Documentary Films.
The documentary, which was directed by Asaf Becker, features Tucker interviewing several children who survived the Hamas terrorist attack. She came to Israel to meet with them following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas in Israel, in which 1200 people were killed and about 250 were kidnapped, 42 of whom were children.
Most of the kidnapped children, some of whom were tortured in captivity, were released in a deal in late 2023, but two, Ariel Bibas, 4, and Kfir Bibas, who was less than a year old, were murdered by terrorists. Their bodies, along with that of their mother, Shiri, were returned to Israel in February.
Tucker, who has more than 14 million followers on social media, has been speaking out about the October 7 massacre since it happened. She has visited Israel several times over the past year and posted many interviews and a dance video at the site of the Supernova music festival, where more than 360 people were killed, to her followers around the world.
Speaking to the Jerusalem Post at the premiere of The Children of October 7 at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem in December, Tucker said that although her grandfather has passed away and her grandmother is currently very ill, she was sure that the two of them, both Holocaust survivors, would be proud of her for working on this documentary.
“My mom always says that my zayde [Yiddish for grandfather] lives inside of me,” Tucker said. “My zayde would talk to every single person he met about the Holocaust and would share his story… I think of him in everything that I do, in the work that I do. My grandparents are my biggest inspiration in the work that I do. They taught me what it means to be strong, and to never give up, and to stand up for what is right.”
Tucker said a psychologist was on the set of the film all the time, to help the child interviewees cope with their trauma. The testimony of these survivors is extremely harrowing. Eitan Yahalomi was 12 when terrorists entered Kibbutz Nir Oz, shooting his father, who died and whose body was returned earlier this year.
The terrorists put Eitan, his mother, and his two younger sisters on motorcycles headed into Gaza. He recalls how his sister Yael was on the motorcycle with him, but because she was crying, they put her on the motorcycle with his mother and other sister. The terrorists left this motorcycle unattended, and his mother and sisters were able to escape.
Eitan was not so lucky. When he entered Gaza, he was beaten by a mob and later was forced to watch videos of the terrorists killing people. When he cried, he was threatened by them at gunpoint.
Others interviewed in the film include Alona Rousso and Yella Rousso of Kfar Aza, whose father, Uri, was murdered while defending the kibbutz; Amit Cohen of Nir Oz, who describes how his father was shot, and that the same bullet that passed through his father’s leg hit his dog; and Ella Shani, of Kibbutz Be’eri, whose father was killed in the attack.
In a discussion at the film’s Jerusalem premiere in the presence of President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, Tucker compared the denial of the massacre to Holocaust denial. “When I would hear Holocaust denial, I would always not understand how people could deny the Holocaust, since we have all the proof in the world,” she said.
“And now, what’s happening in the US and around the world with denial of October 7, when, as you saw, Hamas livestreamed what they were doing for the world to see; they weren’t trying to hide it. I know it sounds like we’re all screaming and no one is listening, but a lot of the content that I have posted has made a difference.”
Some of the most upsetting moments in the film were not made by the movie crew but were from a video livestream that Hamas terrorists posted on Facebook of the Idan family on Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Yael Idan, 12, explains in a steady voice what we see on the Hamas video: Terrorists shot and killed her 18-year-old sister, Maayan, held the entire family hostage in their home, and then kidnapped her father, Tsachi, to Gaza. He was killed in captivity by the terrorists and his body was returned to Israel in February.
In the video, gunshots can be heard, and the terrorists yell at them, as Yael, sobbing, struggles to comprehend that her sister is dead. “It’s like, everything that feels safe for you wasn’t safe anymore,” says Yael in the documentary.
The Children of October 7 was produced by Kastina Communications, which also produced Sheryl Sandberg’s documentary about sexual violence during the October 7 massacre, Screams Before Silence. AID-Coalition also helped produce the film.