Hostage Survivor Slams "Collateral Damage" Film as Hamas Atrocities Ignored

Omer Shem-Tov, who was held captive by Hamas in Gaza for 505 days, has spoken out against the film "Farha," which he described as anti-Israeli and a recipient of a special award at the Venice Film Festival. Shem-Tov shared his feelings in an opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal, stating, "I know what it means to be 'collateral damage.' For 505 days, that's exactly what I was."

While he has not seen the film, which was not screened in Israel, Shem-Tov noted it is based on interviews with anonymous soldiers and intelligence officers. He claims the movie portrays a war where Palestinian civilians were killed senselessly or intentionally, while omitting the Hamas massacre of October 7th and the subsequent hostage-taking that initiated the conflict.

Shem-Tov recounted an incident during his captivity where one of his captors told him his mother received a call from the IDF warning her to leave her home due to a potential Israeli strike. "And so I was there, kidnapped, starved, and tortured by her son, while my army tried to protect his mother's life," Shem-Tov wrote.

He concluded that if an Israeli strike had killed him, Hamas would have achieved a double victory: his death and Israel being held responsible. He described the standing ovation the film received at Venice, lasting over 24 minutes, as feeling like "a volley of knives."