To Honor the Memory of Those Massacred on October 7, Israelis Must Recognize Their Actions in Gaza

Gideon Levy, Haaretz, 15/2/2026

Smoke rises following an explosion, within the "yellow line" zone, which is controlled by Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern earlier this week. Credit: HASEEB ALWAZEE/Reuters

The recent outrage over an Israeli minister’s rejection of the word ‘massacre’ in reference to October 7 revealed that in Israel, the word is reserved for one side. Those fighting for its preservation must apply it to what happened in Gaza

In the first months following October 7, I constantly used the term massacre to describe what had happened. What I saw with my own eyes as I wandered through the southern border area with photographer Alex Levac could only be defined as one.

In Sderot, Ofakim, in the Re’im parking lot, on death-strewn Highway 232, in Be’eri and Nir Oz, we saw endless silent testimony to a massacre. The trails of congealed blood in the rooms of kibbutz members, the lives cut short in an instant, the weekend copies of Haaretz, with readers massacred as they were perusing them, the bodies of their dogs lying in their yards, the crushed and shattered cars with their silent remnants of the Nova music festival, ID cards and personal effects in the ruins of the police station in Sderot, and of course, the surviving witnesses – all told a story of a horrific massacre. A massacre – what else could you call it?

The temporary memorial for victims set at the Re’im parking lot in the initial months after the Nova party, in January 2024. Credit: Hadas Parush

A year later, I could no longer use that term. This was after the word massacre came to be used in Israel’s discourse only for describing what was done to us. The only massacre was the massacre of Israelis in the south, and no other. Hardly anyone used the word massacre to describe what was happening across the border, in Gaza, at our hands.

When an Israeli said "massacre," he meant the massacre of Israelis, as if he were stating that there was no other. The word massacre became a fraught one, a tendentious one serving propaganda and thus disqualified for use, as far as I was concerned, due to its one-sided meaning.

Meanwhile, the second massacre proceeded at full force, and no one called it by its name. It did not cancel out the first massacre, but its scope, in numbers and devastation, far exceeded it. The fact that it was perpetrated mainly by air did not diminish its nature by one whit.

Destroyed buildings in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border earlier this week. Credit: Amir Cohen/Reuters

The furious argument that has erupted in the last few days over the government’s foolish attempt to erase from people’s minds the massacre we suffered can only evoke a bitter smile.

Nothing could be more ironic: After more than two years in which the public discourse refrained from using the word "massacre" or its synonyms for describing what the IDF was doing to Gazans; after more than two years in which Israel tried to tell itself, and the world, that the only massacre that took place was that of Israelis; over two years of playing the victim, in which Israel put on display, for itself and the world, only its own war wounds; over two years in which it forbade any expression of compassion, humaneness and solidarity with the victims of the other massacre; after over two years in which the Israeli media concealed, ignored or blurred the other massacre, along comes the government trying to erase from Israeli minds the first massacre as well, as if it never happened.

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar speaking at the first government-funded film award ceremony in Jerusalem last month. Credit: Naama Grynbaum

Culture Minister Miki Zohar actually objected to adopting a stance of victimhood, in which Israel had wallowed, as long as this served its purposes.

Nevertheless, there was a massacre in Israel, as well as a genocide in Gaza. One should recognize this. The power of words is great. The fact that so few Israelis are bothered by what their country has done in the Gaza Strip proves the immense power of words. The fact that every time the word "massacre" was or is still used in Israel, people mean only the killing of 1,200 Israelis, never the killing of 70,000 Gazans, proves how easy it is to brainwash people and shape their mindset.

Therefore, the current battle over this term is important. People who are justifiably fighting to keep this term intact regarding the events of October 7 should at least also adopt it for describing what Israel did in its reckless retaliation in Gaza. One cannot say "the October 7 massacre" and not say a word about the punitive and vengeful massacre that followed it.

The blood of Israelis massacred along the Gaza border cries out, but no less so than the blood of the thousand babies that were massacred in the Gaza Strip. Both groups were victims of barbaric and criminal behavior. Both groups deserve the correct definition, not mendacious propaganda. There was a massacre in Israel. In Gaza, there was a genocide.