‘October 8' Review: Somber Doc Tracks Recent Rise of Antisemitism on College Campuses

Yahoo

21-03-2025

'Wars today,' we hear early in 'October 8,' are fought 'not only in battlefields but also on different media outlets. It's very challenging: the war of the narrative, and sometimes even the war over truth.'
It has become increasingly arduous to determine objective truth in the modern era, particularly on subjects as fraught and ideologically riven as the Middle East. But documentarian Wendy Sachs ('Surge') narrows her focus, and sets her sights closer to home. She aims, in this passionate and timely documentary, to explore how a culture war has unfolded across U.S. universities since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Under ordinary circumstances, it might feel uncontroversial to make a film about the recent rise of antisemitism on college campuses. There was, we learn, a 140% increase in antisemitic incidents in 2023, the highest on record. Surely this is a trajectory worthy of concern and exploration. But as the movie makes clear, it's not just Zionism but Jewishness itself that has become a third-rail issue.
Some viewers may object strenuously to the fact that Sachs barely addresses the Palestinian cause, or the Israeli government's reaction to the October 7 attacks. It's quickly clear, though, that her attention is purely on the way the war has been used as an excuse by some to push simmering antisemitism to a boiling point. In the movie's press notes, she asserts that 'We are not litigating the war in Israel and in Gaza or advocating that anyone be denied their land or statehood.'
Instead she zooms in, interviewing professors and students who share their experiences as individuals caught in both anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish furor. More impactful still is to see this firsthand via plentiful footage, in which Jewish students are threatened by peers, and dismissed by leaders. She also offers evidence that many of these demonstrations are seeded by groups and even countries dedicated to Israel's destruction.
Sheryl Sandberg, Debra Messing, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Ritchie Torres are among a range of talking heads who discuss the rise in antisemitism over the last year.
Most memorable, however, may be Mosab Hassan Yousef, whose father is Hassan Yousef, the co-founder of Hamas. Yousef is openly stunned that so many American students are vocally aligning with the concept of Intifada. 'It will be a threat against all civilized people who want to live in harmony, who believe in tolerance, who believe in peaceful dialogue with their neighbors, who believe in diversity,' he warns.
Of course, like other movies designed with advocacy in mind, this one is most likely to preach to an already-sympathetic choir. For that reason, 'October 8' is often at its strongest when Sachs touches on broader perspectives within her thesis. For example, political advisor Dan Senor freely acknowledges that 'criticism of the state of Israel is normal, and is important.'
But, he adds, 'Somehow, when there is a debate about Israel, it often gets into a reductionist approach where quickly the question is 'Well, does Israel have the right to exist?' We don't have that discussion about any other country.'
Or, as M.I.T. student Talia Kahn — who shares that her mother is Jewish and her father Muslim — notes about the rights of everyone to live in peace, 'It's not an either/or.'
'October 8' is now playing in select theaters.
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