At the urging of his Mid-East Envoy and longtime golf buddy, Steve Witkoff, President Trump will watch a 47-minute movie today before he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This is the story of how that movie came to be made and the extraordinary effort of one Israeli man, Mattan Harelfisch, who came up with the idea and plan to do so. Within hours of the shock Hamas attack of October 7, video clips and news reports documenting the unspeakable savagery being committed went viral globally. Equally shocking was that spontaneous street parties broke out all over Europe, the U.K., America, Canada, and Australia. People were jubilant, celebrating the massacre even while it was ongoing. They called for the destruction of Israel. And, bizarrely, as they celebrated the carnage, they also denied that Muslims would commit such barbaric crimes. Speaking out of the other side of their mouths, Hamas supporters said, well, even if they did do these things, it was legitimate resistance.

Still in the fog and chaos of this massive terror attack, Israel found itself butting up against a wall of denial. Governments, NGOs like the United Nations, and civilians are saying that it never happened. This is where Mattan Harelfisch comes in. An Israeli man reeling in the immediate aftermath, Mattan could not believe that international media referred to crimes—that were documented by Hamas terrorists themselves—as things that “supposedly” occurred. Supposedly. The world was denying the horror. And so, Mattan spoke to IDF Chief Spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, and by mid-October, the 47-minute film of the atrocities was produced and screened for 20 international journalists in Tel Aviv. This is part I of the fascinating backstory of how and why the 47-minute film was made—the objectives, the process, the ethics. Part II of this fascinating discussion will drop in the coming days.

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Ep. 138 | Playing for the Long Term. Ft. Rory Stern, CybelAngel