Omer Shem Tov responds to 'Bystander Effect' filmmakers: 'For 505 days, I was 'collateral damage''

Former hostage Omer Shem Tov, who was kidnapped from the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, and held in Gaza for 505 days, published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal responding to the documentary 'Bystander Effect' (Collateral Damage), which won a special award at the Venice Film Festival. Shem Tov writes that throughout his captivity, he himself was 'collateral damage' — fearing both his armed captors and Israeli Air Force strikes. He describes an incident where his captors fled and left him behind, expecting an Israeli attack, while the IDF called his mother to warn her to leave her home. 'There I was — kidnapped, starved, and tortured by her son — while my army tried to keep his mother alive,' he writes. Shem Tov notes that the ratio of casualties in Gaza, according to military and American estimates, stands at 1.5 to 2 civilians per fighter — relatively low for urban warfare of this intensity. He criticizes the film for omitting the October 7 massacre and the hostage-taking, writing that the applause in Venice felt 'like a shower of knives.' He concludes with a call for moral clarity: 'We have the right to ensure there is no more October 7. And we should not be ashamed of that.'

Former hostage Omer Shem Tov, who was kidnapped from the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, and held in Gaza for 505 days, published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal responding to the documentary 'Bystander Effect' (Collateral Damage), which won a special award at the Venice Film Festival. Shem Tov writes that throughout his captivity, he himself was 'collateral damage' — fearing both his armed captors and Israeli Air Force strikes. He describes an incident where his captors fled and left him behind, expecting an Israeli attack, while the IDF called his mother to warn her to leave her home. 'There I was — kidnapped, starved, and tortured by her son — while my army tried to keep his mother alive,' he writes. Shem Tov notes that the ratio of casualties in Gaza, according to military and American estimates, stands at 1.5 to 2 civilians per fighter — relatively low for urban warfare of this intensity. He criticizes the film for omitting the October 7 massacre and the hostage-taking, writing that the applause in Venice felt 'like a shower of knives.' He concludes with a call for moral clarity: 'We have the right to ensure there is no more October 7. And we should not be ashamed of that.'

Omer Shem Tov responds to 'Bystander Effect' filmmakers: 'For 505 days, I was 'collateral damage''