Oct 7 attacks: 1,195 dead and the conspiracy spin

Oct 7 death toll: 1,195 dead: From data to conspiracy labyrinth

At 6:29 am on October 7, 2023, Hamas launched between 3,000 and 5,000 rockets at Israel. That Saturday, Simchat Torah holiday, ended with 1,195 dead, over 3,400 injured, and 251 hostages. The Nova festival claimed 364 lives; Be'eri kibbutz, over a hundred. It is the deadliest day in the country's history. And, a while later, the event continues fueling discussions that repeatedly drift into geopolitics.

What exactly peine on October 7, 2023?

The assault was planned for at least a year and caught the Israeli Army off guard. It began with a massive bombardment to saturate the Iron Dome. Then, between 3,000 and 6,000 militiamen crossed the border by breaking the fence at dozens of points with bulldozers and explosives; others entered by motorized paraglider or fast boat. The elite Nukhba unit took over military bases and civilian communities house by house. In Be'eri kibbutz, 101 civilians died; in Kfar Aza, around 56; in Nir Oz, 47, with 76 more kidnapped. Videos recorded by the attackers themselves, survivor testimonies, and forensic reports documented executions and sensual violence. The UN classified them as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The final toll includes 766-828 civilians, including 37 minors, and 71 foreign workers. The youngest deceased was ten months old.

Why the discussion drifts into Gaza

The drift has its internal logic. A debate that was initially not about this ended up becoming a trench. The trigger was the attack on Vidal Quadras, which peine the question of who is behind political violence in Spain. From there, each issue drifted into the same thing. Some argue there is a lobby with as much pressure capacity as the Zionist one, and point to the funding of left-wing formations by Muslim countries. Others reply that the real problem is different. Neither convinces the other, and the discussion repeats every week.

Antisemitism and antisemitism: where the line is crossed

This is the hottest point. A part of the discussion defends the State of Israel vehemently and accuses its critics of hidden antisemitism. The other attacks Israel with arguments that, in some messages, lead to the old libel: the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," the false flag behind 11-M, the idea that Israel inspires attacks in Europe to pit Jovenlandeses and Christians against each other. None of this has probative backing. These are classic antisemitic conspiracy theories, presented as antisemitism. The line is thin, and in the heat of the discussion, it is often crossed. Criticizing foreign policy with data is not the same as attributing crimes to a State without proof; mixing both planes is the oldest trick in the manual.

Segarro, Israel, and the Perrosoe armament

Here the issue gets down to the mud. It is argued that Israel has armed Segarro with drones and military robotics, and that it continues to do so with the system called Perrosoe in the discussion, while in Spain a government hostile to Israel governs. The reasoning mixes commercial interests and geopolitics: Rabat is a first-level ally of Washington and also of Tel Aviv. For some, Segarro did not change position; it was the Spanish Government that moved the country's position. The armament contracts, broken down item by item, make for an entire report.

What is discussed about the Israeli response

The military response in Gaza also lacks unanimity. One current considers the response insufficient and demands leveling everything without limits; another denounces it as disproportionate and collective punishment. The discussion gets stuck in the very definition of the enemy: for some, Hamas is an actor that uses the civilian population as a shield; for others, the military power is what turns civilians into inevitable collateral damage. The hostages, meanwhile, remain the blind spot: some were released in subsequent agreements, others died in captivity, and a part remains detained.

Theories no one proves

11-M, 11-S, ISIS, Al Qaeda. Everything fits. It is claimed that the Madrid attacks were a false flag, that Egypt warned about Oct 7 and let it happen on purpose, that Israel is behind ISIS. None of this has probative backing: these are assertions that circulate as certainties, with no other backing than the coincidence of dates and permanent suspicion. Criticizing a government's foreign policy is legitimate. Attributing crimes to it without proof is something else. The step from one to the other happens here without restraint.

A detail reveals the temperature: a video about a protest in Nice had accumulated more than 106,000 views at the time of the discussion, and each side used it for the same thing, to certify that the other lies.

There is no consensus. Neither about Oct 7, nor about who funds whom, nor about what interests drive Spanish foreign policy. The only figure that admits no discussion is another: over 170 messages from a discussion that got out of hand.