Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Meta, has launched a new campaign to raise awareness about the brutality of Hamas‘s attack on Israel in October 2023. Her film, ‘Screams Before Silence‘, documents the sexual violence that occurred during the attack and aims to counter the growing antisemitism on college campuses in the US.
The movie was screened at Columbia University auditorium. Sandberg told media that the event marked the start of a new campaign for her: To change the minds of college students. According to a report in Bloomberg, Sandberg said that she is bringing her film to more than 100 universities, hoping awareness of the brutality of Hamas, which killed 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage last year, will counter what she sees as extremist protesters who view October 7 as a justified act of resistance against Israel.
Shocked by anti-Israel protests
“Politics are blinding us to something that should be completely obvious, which is that rape is never resistance and Hamas is a terrorist group,” Sandberg said in an interview ahead of the screening. “The antisemitism that’s happened in the last year has really shocked me. I was not prepared for this.”
“The conflict has been fraught for women for all these reasons,” Sandberg said.
Sandberg’s initiative comes amid a surge in anti-Jewish incidents in the United States, with many Jewish Americans experiencing harassment, threats, and violence. The recent Hamas attack has fueled these tensions, leading to protests and demonstrations on college campuses across the United States.
During the screening, a few masked protesters reportedly briefly stood outside handing out leaflets, but didn’t stay long.