Imagine…

Imagine on October 7th, 2023, as news of the massacre in Israel spread, world leaders immediately condemned the attack with unwavering moral clarity. Instead of vague statements of “both sides,” they declared unequivocally that the slaughter of innocent civilians was an unforgivable act of terror.

Imagine on October 7th, elite counterterrorism units from allied nations landing in Israel, standing shoulder to shoulder with Israeli forces, helping to clear the remaining terrorists still hiding in homes, schools, and shelters in the border towns. Imagine these teams working swiftly, ensuring that no child spent the night under a bed in fear, no family was trapped in a safe room, no community was left to fend for itself.

Imagine on October 7th, the Red Cross, receiving the news, immediately mobilizing to prepare for horrors unknown, as they are “a neutral independent organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for people affected by armed conflict and other violence.” Imagine that they dispatch hundreds of unarmed units to seek out the injured, the kidnapped, and the broken.

Imagine on October 8th, protests erupting worldwide—not in defense of terror, but in its condemnation. University students by the thousands gathering on campuses to protest murder, execution, rape, beheadings, and the annihilation of men, women, and children. Imagine educated and informed students demanding justice, chanting for human rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights.

Imagine heads of universities taking a moral stand, denouncing the atrocities without hesitation, and demanding the immediate return of 260 hostages. No hesitation. No cowardly neutrality. Just truth, spoken clearly, with the weight of academia behind it.

Imagine an October 8th where the general public stood with their Jewish brethren—neighbors, coworkers, and friends. People swarming the streets, speaking out, showing up in ways that mattered. Not just with social media posts, but with action, support, and unity.

Imagine a world where the media did not twist the narrative. Where headlines read “Hamas Massacres Innocents in Worst Attack Since the Holocaust” instead of vague language that sanitized the atrocities. Where journalists sought the truth instead of hiding it behind carefully curated bias.

Imagine a world where celebrities, the voices of global culture, used their platforms to unequivocally condemn the massacre. Where A-list actors, musicians, and influencers stood in solidarity with the (actual!) victims, using their vast reach to amplify the voices of the hostages’ families. Imagine an Oscars ceremony where a moment of silence was held, where the entertainment industry paused to acknowledge the horrors inflicted on innocent lives, rather than continuing with business as usual. Imagine a world where saying “never again” actually meant something.

Imagine a world where moral clarity prevailed.

Instead, we saw silence from the very organizations that claim to defend human rights. We saw journalists hesitate to call rape, torture, and beheadings what they were—because acknowledging the truth would shatter their pre-constructed narratives.

Instead, we saw students at prestigious universities rush to justify terror. We saw intellectuals contort themselves to blame the victims. We saw rallies not for the murdered, but for those who committed the murders.

Instead, we saw hostage families begging for attention, for even a fraction of the outrage that the world so readily gives to other conflicts. We saw marches, not for the innocent lives lost, but in defense of the ideology that took them.

Instead, we saw silence from women’s rights groups in the face of mass rape. Silence from human rights organizations when children were executed in front of their parents. Silence from those who claim to stand for justice, only to prove that their justice is selective.

Instead, we saw a world that looked away.

How do we hold accountable those who failed to act, who failed to speak, who failed to stand up for humanity in its darkest hour? How do we change the world we live in?  

We start by refusing to be silent. By speaking, writing, protesting, educating. By demanding honesty from the media, integrity from institutions, and moral courage from leaders. By ensuring that the truth is told, that history is recorded accurately, and that those who abandoned their humanity are remembered for their failure.

We start by standing up—again and again—until the world can no longer look away.

And we must remember—because forgetting is not an option.