Facing Oct. 7 denialism, Knesset hears new testimony to unspeakable horrors

This story contains graphic and disturbing language.

In a chilling testimony before the Knesset, Rabbi Moshe Dickstein, who served as a reservist in the IDF’s Southern Command, provided disturbing details of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli communities.

The rabbi’s account, which included graphic descriptions of violence against women, children and men, shed light on the full extent of the horrors that unfolded that day.

“The first body we came across was an overturned stroller. Inside the stroller was a baby, and his head was thrown aside with a knife in it,” Rabbi Dickstein said, choking back tears.

“The woman we found, presumably the mother, was lying on the couch with blood flowing from her private area. We were told to collect only the bodies. In the next stage, they would come to clean up the blood and everything else.”

The rabbi continued with the difficult descriptions:

“And so we went from house to house and found women lying on the floor with legs spread, it’s indescribable. Another house and another house, then also in the field. They cut off men’s genitals, and we found women with severed breasts. A pregnant woman with her belly opened up to reveal the umbilical cord and the baby with a knife in its body.”

The rabbi, who serves in the reserves as a commander of the casualty identification unit in the Southern Command, spoke at a meeting of the Knesset Caucus for Ultra-Orthodox and Religious Women, which focused on “sexual crimes motivated by nationalism.”