I have a penchant for documentaries and news stories dealing with antisemitism and Jewish controversies.

I was eager to watch the recent documentary Torn by director Nim Shapira. Fortunately, I was able to watch it online; I prefer to ruminate on such serious and disturbing content alone.

The film represents both sides of the hostage poster battle that took place in New York following Hamas’ October 7, 2003, attack on Southern Israel, which killed 1,200 men, women and children. The director obviously tried to give everyone an equal opportunity to be heard, as he proved by allowing one of the interviewees to read messages from protestors who had declined to be interviewed on camera.

There was no preaching, accusations nor defamation from the activist, rabbi, writer or family members of hostages who were interviewed. They simply relayed events and their reactions to them.

Any objectifying, vilifying, slandering, cursing, denigration and vitriol came from the hundreds — maybe thousands — of people who tore down and defaced the hostage posters as they recorded their acts on their cell phones. Those videos speak for themselves.

It is this footage I find particularly sad and disheartening.

Alana Zeitchik, whose cousins........

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