Joey Low, Executive Producer of “Screams Before Silence,” and founder of Israel at Heart and Star Farm Ventures, spoke at the Herzliya Conference convened by the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at Reichman University about the movie “Screams Before Silence” directly, a documentary about Hamas sexual crimes during the October 7th massacre.
“I love Israel, I’ve loved Israel my whole life. I was a volunteer in the Yom Kippur War. What bothers me is the way the media portrays Israel. After October 7, it made me angry – it felt like we were all raped, all violated, and where was the world? And when they came to me with the idea for the film, I thought it was the perfect thing to support.''
“After October 7, so many Israelis jumped into action, without the government, to do what needed to be done, and for the movie it was the same. We all did what needed to be done. The movie was an independent project; we didn’t take any money from the government. That was important to us.”
He believes the film has had a significant impact. “Sheryl Sandberg has put her heart and soul into this film, and without her it never would have gotten the mileage and exposure it did. The fact that we’ve translated it into 12-13 languages means that people around the world will see it. 35 million people have seen the trailer, and over 2 million have seen the whole movie. Now they can see what Hamas is, which the world media doesn’t do. I happen to believe that there are many more people in the world who support Israel, but the media doesn’t cover that.''
Joey has a clear goal in mind for the film. “Let people see how evil Hamas is. We know it here, but around the world the media is doing a really good job of suppressing it. We have to stand up and show the world who Hamas is. They came for us first, but this isn’t where they plan on stopping.”
He emphasizes that everyone is party to the conflict in some way. “We must remember those who stood with us and those who didn’t. It’s times like this that you learn who your friends are, and remember who stayed silent. I don’t think people around the world understand the extent to which Israelis’ psyche has been damaged.”
