OPINION:
Former hostage Romi Gonen gave a courageous interview with Israeli television on Dec. 25 in which she detailed the brutality she survived during her 471 days as a captive of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
She defiantly said Hamas silenced her during her captivity, but “no one is going to silence me anymore.” Sadly, most of the mainstream media are silencing her again by refusing to share her story. Although CNN reported on her interview, neither The New York Times nor The Washington Post has done so.
Ms. Gonen was 23 when she was shot and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, while fleeing the Nova music festival massacre. Her friends Gaya Halifa and Ben Shimoni were murdered.
During her captivity, Ms. Gonen was repeatedly harassed and sexually assaulted by her Palestinian captors, who included a medical worker and a Hamas “journalist” (propaganda cameraman).
Ms. Gonen described one attack in which she was brutally raped by a Hamas terrorist in a bathroom. She noticed the blue sky and birds singing outside, which she could see through a small picture window. She recalled the feeling of “dissonance between the beautiful, normal, clean life outside and the filth, beastliness and disgust[ingness] that is happening here inside this bathroom.”
Tears ran down her face as she thought, “Romi, everyone in Israel thinks you’re dead, and you’re going to be his sex slave for life.” Afterward, the terrorist put a gun to her head and said, “If you tell anyone, I am going to kill you.”
Ms. Gonen was finally released as part of the January 2025 hostage deal.
Her story reminds us of the depth of Israel’s trauma from the Oct. 7 massacre, the inhuman depravity of Hamas and the world’s shameful lack of empathy for the Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism and barbarity.
STEPHEN A. SILVER
San Francisco, California
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