Deborah Lipstadt Archives

Review: ‘October 8,’ starring Debra Messing, Irit Lahav, Tessa Veksler, Sheryl Sandberg, Lorenzo Vidino, Ritchie Torres and Mosab Hassan Youssef

March 14, 2025

by Carla Hay

Talia Kahn in “October 8” (Photo courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment)

Directed by Wendy Sachs

Culture Representation: The documentary film “October 8” features a predominantly white group of Jewish people (with a few African Americans, Latin people and Asians) talking about how the rise of antisemitism is related to the Gaza war.

Culture Clash: Several people in the documentary say that Palestinian extremists in Hamas have co-opted the political agendas and strategies of civil rights groups that fight for oppressed people.

Culture Audience: “October 8” will appeal primarily to people who are against discrimination that violates civil rights, but the documentary tends to oversimply some political issues regarding the Gaza war.

A scene from “October 8” (Photo courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment)

“October 8” succeeds as a passionate rebuke against antisemitism related to the Gaza war, but there are complicated war issues that this movie oversimplifies. A better documentary would have included interviews with opposing viewpoints. “October 8” (originally titled “October H8te”) certainly presents plenty of evidence that there is antisemitism cloaked in rhetoric of nationalist pride. However, the documentary doesn’t fully acknowledge that war causes destruction to innocent civilians on both sides.

Directed by Wendy Sachs, “October 8” gets its title in reference to the day after the Gaza war began, with the documentary referring to October 8 as the first day that people around the world should have been aware of the human-rights violations against Israelis during this war. The war began in the Gaza strip on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led Palestinian groups launched a surprise attack on Israel. An estimated 1,195 Israelis and people from other nations, including 815 civilians, were killed during the attack that day. Approximately 251 people were taken hostage.

“October 8” is essentially a compilation of interviews with mostly Jewish people and some non-Jewish allies who give their opinions, present some facts, and tell their stories about the rise in antisemitism since the Gaza war began. “October 8” is a little too preachy in demanding that anyone who doesn’t take Israel’s side in the war can risk being labeled as antisemitic. Many people interviewed in the documentary want the war to end. But even the most casual observer will notice that this documentary downplays facts about civilians who were killed in Palestine when Israel defended itself during this war.

“October 8” tends to ignore the reality that both of these things can be true at the same time: Someone can be against the murdering and torture of innocent civilian Palestinians during the war and not be antisemitic. Someone can have sympathy for innocent lives being destroyed on either side without being antisemitic. “October 8” is somewhat rigid in dismissing that these truths can exist at the same time.

The documentary focuses in particular on antisemitism at U.S. colleges and universities, where pro-Palestinian protests and activism have been very popular. “October 8” is meant to sound the alarm that impressionable young people are at most risk of being indoctrinated with antisemitism. The documentary mentions Students for Justice in Palestine as a group affiliated with American Muslims for Palestine and says that the general public needs to be more educated on who’s really funding these groups.

Rabbi David Wolpe, who was a visiting scholar at Harvard University when the Gaza war began, places a lot of blame on Harvard for why pro-Palestine protests have become widespread at U.S. college campuses. He says that “Harvard set the tone” when Harvard controversially allowed antisemitism in speech and written words related to these pro-Palestine campaigns on Harvard’s campus. In January 2024, Claudine Gay resigned as president of Harvard during this controversy. She had been on the job for only six months.

“October 8” presents a compelling argument that pro-Palestinian sentiments at U.S. colleges and universities tend to come from people who are students, faculty and staff at educational institutions that have images of being politically liberal or politically progressive. These liberal/progressive institutions latch on to civil rights causes that fight discrimination against groups of people who are typically underrepresented and marginalized, such as people of color. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has typically been supported by people with these politically liberal leanings. Several people in the documentary believe that Hamas and other terrorist groups have manipulated that civil rights good will by portraying Israelis as white oppressors and Palestinians as oppressed people of color.

Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, is one of the people in the documentary who holds this viewpoint. However, he might offend some viewers when he defines support for Palestine as DEI gone wrong. “DEI started off with good intentions,” Galloway says. But, according to Galloway, Hamas terrorists have co-opted the same activism strategies and language used by DEI advocates and U.S. civil rights groups, in order to get many U.S. citizens on the side of the Palestinians in the Gaza war.

Although that certainly might be the case in many situations, it seems faulty to bring up DEI (which is mainly about opportunities in employment and education) and equating DEI with much more complicated political war issues. Blake Flayton, a Jewish writer who is interviewed in “October 8,” goes as far as saying that DEI is antisemitism. Elsewhere in the documentary, Israeli journalist Emily Schraver comments, “Zionism is civil rights for Jewish people.”

What all of these statements have in common is bringing up the question about whether or not some people deserve more civil rights than others. And when it comes to the Gaza war, the controversy over political activism has to do with people disagreeing on which side in the war deserves more support than the other. “October 8” presents a lot of proof that many pro-Palestine activists are antisemitic, but the documentary isn’t convincing when it tries to lump all pro-Palestine activists into the category of antisemitic.

Many people in the documentary also equate anyone who stays silent about what’s happening to Israelis in the Gaza War as being the same as people who stayed silent when Nazis took over parts of Europe and murdered millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust in the 1930s and early 1940s. The main problem with that comparison is that Jewish people in Europe in the 1930s and early 1940s did not have their own military force that was able to kill thousands of Nazis in defense. World War II involved several nations (not just two nations) fighting in the war to defeat the evils of Nazi terrorism.

Several of the Jewish interviewees express dismay that in the immediate aftermath of the Gaza war, not enough of their gentile colleagues and gentile friends expressed explicit support for Israelis and Jewish people. Danielle Haas, a former senior editor of Human Rights Watch, says she was Human Rights Watch’s only Jewish editor living in Israel when the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023. Haas says she was deeply offended that a Human Rights Watch report about this tragic event did not mention that what happened was a massacre of mostly Israelis.

“It was visceral,” Haas says of how she felt sickened by this inaccurate report, which she interpreted as antisemitic. She says when she took her concerns to Human Rights Watch supervisors, her concerns were ignored. Haas says she quit Human Rights Watch for these reasons. It’s unknown if the documentary filmmakers contacted Human Rights Watch to get Human Rights Watch’s side of the story.

Probably the biggest flaw in “October 8” is how the documentary inaccurately makes it sound like very few people in the entertainment industry are publicly supporting Israel during this war. Debra Messing (who is an executive producer of “October 8”) and Michael Rapaport are the only Jewish American entertainers interviewed in the documentary. Messing and Rapaport (who are actors in television and movies) both describe Hollywood entertainers as overwhelmingly indifferent to Israeli Jewish suffering during the war.

Rapaport comments that he was the most well-known entertainment celebrity to speak at the March for Israel rally in Washington, D.C., on November 14, 2023. There could be any number of reasons why he was the most famous entertainer to speak at the event, but the documentary doesn’t delve deeper to explain. Maybe the rally organizers wanted mostly politicians to speak at this non-partisan event. The other speakers were Israeli President Isaac Herzog (who spoke via video from Jerusalem), U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and U.S. Senator Joni Ernst. Other speakers included entertainer Montana Tucker and televangelist John Hagee.

In another part of the documentary, Messing laments about what she thinks is the entertainment industry’s lack of support for Israel during the Gaza war: “I felt completely betrayed by Hollywood.” However, what “October 8” fails to mention is that on October 12, 2023, about 700 people (Jewish and gentile) in the entertainment industry, under the collective name Creative Community for Peace, signed an open letter condemning the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. Among the celebrities who signed the letter are Gal Gadot, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Douglas, Chris Pine, Mayim Bialik, Liev Schreiber, Amy Schumer, Jerry Seinfeld and Helen Mirren.

“October 8” has heart-wrenching scenes filmed in the Gaza Strip to show the aftermath of the destruction caused by the war. Israeli survivors such as Irit Lahav and military soldier Maya Bentwitch describe the horrors that they experienced. Talia Kahn, an American Jewish student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, visits the site of the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival where 364 people were killed, 40 people were taken hostage, and other atrocities occurred on October 7, 2023. The site is now a memorial. Kahn is overcome with grief and weeps.

Sheryl Sandberg—founder of Lean In and former chief operating officer at Meta (formerly known as Facebook)—says in the documentary that Jewish people all over the world are afraid that what’s happening in the Gaza war will turn into a World War II-level Holocaust genocide of Jewish people. Sandberg (who lives in the U.S.) says that she asked a gentile friend, “Would you hide me?” She had to explain to the friend that she was asking if the friend would hide her in the way that gentile allies hid Jews from Nazis in Europe. Sandberg says her friend said yes without hesitation.

The documentary has plenty of footage of pro-Palestine people showing antisemitism in public. This footage includes people expressing antisemitism online and at pro-Palestine events; testimonials from people who’ve been targets of antisemitism; and people in the U.S. tearing down missing-person flyers of Israeli civilians who were taken hostage by Hamas. However, it’s all presented as a repetitive echo. A more impactful and braver documentary would have had thoughtful discussions where people on both sides of the issues could confront their differences.

For example, Tessa Veksler (whose parents are Russian Jewish immigrants) talks about her ordeal of being cyberbullied and nearly being ousted as student body president of University of Californa at Santa Barbara because she publicly expressed her pro-Israel opinions after the Gaza war began. The documentary only tells her version of the story. It would’ve been a better learning experience if the documentary tried to find out the totality of the circumstances, by interviewing anyone who wanted Veksler to be removed from her elected position.

Several other university-affiliated people are interviewed including Shai Davidai, an assistant professor/researcher at Columbia Business School; Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University; Michael Masters, professor of biological anthropology at Montana Technological University; Noa Fay, a Barnard College/Columbia University student; Talia Dror, a Cornell University student; Eyal Yakoby, who was a University of Pennsylvania student activist at the time he was interviewed.

Other people interviewed in “October 8” are Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League; Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator for New York; Noa Tishby, an Israeli activist/actress; Liad Diamond, head of the Public Diplomacy Office in the Israel Defense Forces; Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, founder/CEO/executive director of CyberWell, an online database that tracks antisemitism; podcast host Dan Senor; activist Shabbos Kestenbaum; author/commentator Douglas Murray; Oren Segal, senior vice president of Counter-Extremism and Intelligence; Bari Weiss, editor of The Free Press; former Israeli politician Einat Wilf; Hillel Neuer, executive director of United Nations Watch; writer Hen Mazzig; historian/diplomat Deborah Lipstadt; and Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“October 8” has some interviews with gentile pro-Israeli supporters including activist Mandana Dayani; former Hamas member Mosab Hassan Youssef; and politician Ritchie Torres, a U.S. Representative for New York’s 15th congressional district. Youssef says, “My definition of Intifada is chaos.” Torres (who identifies as gay, Afro-Latino and a liberal Democrat) says in the documentary there should be no question that Israel is on the right side of history in the Gaza war.

“October 8” is a mixed bag. It has understandaby righteous indignation about antisemitism, but the documentary shuts out a full range of perspectives and facts, thereby lowering the quality of the documentary. This very American-centric movie could have used more perspectives of Israeli Jews who are Gaza war survivors. “October 8” doesn’t hide that it has a well-intentioned agenda, but better investigative journalism would have given this documentary more credibility.

Briarcliff Entertainment released “October 8” in select U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025.

Review: ‘Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations,’ starring Andrew Goldberg, Brad Orsini, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Deborah Lipstadt, Jean-Luc Slakmon and Valerie Braham

February 21, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations”

Directed by Andrew Goldberg

Culture Representation: This documentary examines the rise of anti-Semitism in four countries: the United States, Hungary, the United Kingdom and France, featuring interviews with various people (almost all Caucasian) who are experts or have firsthand knowledge of the topic.

Culture Clash: Most of the people interviewed in the documentary say that anti-Semitism is a prejudice that has gotten worse in recent years, due to conflicts over economic uncertainty, immigration and more political leaders who openly express hatred of Jews.

Culture Audience: This movie will be of interest to anyone who is interested in contemporary news and social issues to find out the root causes of this bigotry and what can be done about it.

Jean-Luc Slakmon in “Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations” (Photo courtesy of Dark Star Pictures)

The excellent documentary “Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations” takes the concept that prejudice against Jews is like a viral infection that keeps spreading, and the movie focuses on four mutations in particular. Each mutation gets a chapter in the documentary.

“Chapter I: The Far Right” examines the far-right ideologies in the United States that have led to an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes. “Chapter II: Blaming the Jew” puts the spotlight on Hungary and certain political leaders’ noticeable obsession with demonizing Hungarian Jewish billionaire George Soros. “Chapter III: The Far Left” takes a look at anti-Semitism in far-left factions of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party, as exemplified by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. And “Chapter IV: Islamic Radicalism” investigates anti-Semitism in France, particularly from radical Muslims.

Jewish actress Julianna Margulies (“The Good Wife,” “ER”) provides narration in the beginning and end of the film, but the main narrator is writer/director/producer Andrew Goldberg, who’s also seen on camera interviewing some of the people in the documentary. Goldberg is a longtime journalist, and his expertise in newsgathering shows in the quality of this film. The editing by Diana Robinson (who’s also a producer of the documentary) is also top-notch. This is the type of movie that could be shown not only in traditional cinemas but also in schools and for groups that have an interest in news, anti-hate activism and other social issues.

In Chapter I, which covers anti-Semitism in the United States, among those who are interviewed are people who were witnesses or connected to the 2018 horrific mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 people—the deadliest massacre of Jewish people in the United States. Those interviewed include Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, Rabbi Jeffrey Meyers and former FBI agent Brad Orsini, who is currently security director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Meyers says that, based on the rise of anti-Semitic crimes in the U.S., the massacre was sadly inevitable. “To many, we will always be ‘other’ and not welcomed here,” he adds. Orsini has difficulty holding back tears, as he remembers witnessing the carnage at the scene of the crime, and he describes his current work in helping train synagogues in protecting themselves from these crimes in the future. Rabbi Elisar Admon of the Jewish Burial Society holds up a copy of a Hebrew Bible and shows a bullet hole that cut right through the word “God.” Admon says it’s a sign that even under the threat of violence, Jewish people “have to keep going” and never lose hope.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton believes that “economic stagnation” and a “feeling of powerlessness” fuel the anti-Semitism that has been on the rise in America. Meanwhile, former white supremacist Arno Michaels admits that when he was in a hate group, he would usually target young white Christians who had something wrong in their lives—whether it was an abusive home or other lack of support system—and tell them warped lies to feed their insecurities that their problems were caused people who aren’t white or Christian. Other people who weigh in with their observations about anti-Jewish hatred in America are “Antisemitism: Here and Now” author Deborah Lipstadt, journalist/CNN host Fareed Zakaria, conservative political commentator George Will and Eric Ward, an expert on bigotry-related violence.

In one of the most memorable sections of the documentary, director Goldberg travels to Hoke County, North Carolina, where he interviews former chemical engineer Russell Walker, who ran for the North Carolina State House of Representatives as an openly white supremacist Republican. Even though Walker lost the election, he still managed to get 37% of the votes. During the interview, Walker shows Goldberg one of his campaign signs. On one side, it says, “What’s Wrong With Being a Racist?” and on the other side it says, “God Is a Racist.”

The interview is an example of what several people mention is the documentary: Bigots don’t just look like the radicals seen marching at hate rallies or committing terrorists acts. Many of the worst bigots are friendly and polite to the faces of people they hate (as Walker is when he interacts with Goldberg), but behind closed doors, they are plotting dangerous ways to eliminate the people they consider enemies because of their races or religions.

Many of these bigots are running for political office and using patriotism to disguise their hate-filled beliefs. Some of the people in the documentary mention U.S. President Donald Trump and Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as two examples of politicians who have influenced the rise of anti-Semitism. (Some of the murderers who have committed the worst anti-Semitic crimes have quoted remarks made by certain politicians in power.)

The documentary’s Chapter II shows what many people outside of Hungary do not know: Hungarian native Soros, who has made sizeable donations to liberal politicians and liberal causes, has been labeled as the biggest Jewish enemy to Hungary. There are anti-Soros billboards, display signs and ads almost everywhere in Hungary that describe Soros as a Jewish “boogeyman/puppet master,” and Orbán frequently makes public remarks denigrating Soros. Hungarians interviewed in the documentary say that anti-Semitism in Hungary has been increasing for the past four years.

Chapter III of the documentary shows that in the United Kingdom, anti-Semitism has become more noticeable in the left-wing Labour Party, which has prided itself on having a “justice and equal rights for all” image. However, people interviewed in the documentary, such as former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Margaret Hodge (a Labour Party MP), say that economic uncertainty has fueled anti-Semitism for many British people who are on the far left of the political spectrum. Communist/Socialist-leaning left wingers who don’t like Western capitalist policies often see Israel as an ally to the West. This belief also plays into negative stereotypes that Jewish capitalists are greedy.

The documentary mentions that British politician Luciana Berger resigned as MP and left the Labour Party altogether in 2019. She says she quit the party because of anti-Semitism. Berger is now a member of the Liberal Democrats political party. Labour Party MP/chancellor John McDonnell says the Labour Party “hasn’t been quick enough in dealing with [anti-Semitism].” Many believe that Corbyn’s open distaste for Israel is based more on anti-Semitism than based on political beliefs. Several people in the documentary have cited Corbyn’s criticisms of Israel as causing divisions in the Labour Party and being one of the reasons for Corbyn’s downfall.

Chapter IV of the documentary has gut-wrenching descriptions of hate crimes targeting Jews in France, which experts in the documentary say is the nation with the highest-levels of anti-Semitism in Europe. Hate crimes against Jews in many other countries are often perpetrated by people who identify as Christians. But in France, the most high-profile hate crimes have been committed by people who identify as Muslim/Islamic.

One of the people interviewed is Jean-Luc Slakmon, who was an employee working at Hypercacher kosher supermarket in Porte de Vincennes, France, on January 9, 2015, when a radical Islamic man held 19 people hostage and murdered four of them. Slakmon, who is shown in the documentary taking a Krav Maga self-defense class, believes his life was spared because of his diminutive height and because he fully cooperated with the gunman. Slakmon goes back to the scene of the crime, and his anxiety is visible, as he says being there is like reliving everything all over again. It’s obvious that he wants to break down and cry on camera, but he doesn’t.

Meanwhile, Valerie Braham also gives an emotional interview about the devastation caused by anti-Semitic hate crimes. Her husband of nearly 10 years, Philippe Braham, was murdered in the Hypercacher massacre. She describes what kind of man he was (a great husband and father) and how the family will never recover from the loss. Simone Rodan-Benzaquen of the American Jewish Committee in France says that it’s common for Jews in France to constantly think about moving out of the country.

What should people take away from seeing this movie? This is what director Goldberg said in a statement: “I am a filmmaker and journalist, not an activist. We tried very hard to make a documentary that was not just a report but an actual feature film people would want to see. Many asked us if we had a ‘call to action’ for how people could help fight antisemitism, or if we offered solutions. We purposefully did neither. I have always believed that a well-educated populace is where we need to begin for people to make the best decisions.”

Dark Star Pictures released “Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations” in New York City on February 21, 2020. The movie’s U.S. theatrical release expands to more cities, as of February 28, 2020.