Video screening of Oct. 7 attack in Israel held in Downtown El Paso

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- About two dozen people were invited to attend a private screening of the videos taken during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel.

The location was kept under wraps until roughly 24 hours before the screening in order to avoid protests or threats, according to the Israeli Consulate General of the Southwest, which organized the screening at Hotel Indigo in Downtown El Paso.

A screening at Los Angeles' Museum of Tolerance last year drew protesters by the dozens, according to reports filed by the LA Times and Variety.

In El Paso, maybe a handful of protesters stood on the street outside the hotel, according to a few attendees.

The showing of the raw, highly graphic compilation of footage has been controversial since the Israeli government began holding the screenings shortly after the attack, in which 1,139 Israeli military members, men and women of all ages, and children were killed, and more than 240 Israelis were taken hostage.

While about half of the hostages remain in Hamas captivity, the Associated Press reported on June 3 that four more Israeli men were confirmed dead, leaving 80 assumed alive among the remains of 43 people.

The 45-minute video contains footage taken from closed circuit televisions around Israel, traffic cameras, home surveillance videos, as well as cell phone videos taken by both victims and terrorists, and body cameras and dashboard cameras belonging to gunmen.

The small crowd, which included El Paso Police Dept. Chief Peter Pacillas, El Paso Deputy City Manager Mario D'Agostino, and a number of delegates attending the Texas Democratic Convention also being held downtown, was mostly silent but would gasp or groan as the brutal violence played out on screen. No cell phones or recording devices were allowed in the room.

Those who are opposed to the screenings say this is being used by the Israeli government as a tool to justify their military campaign in Gaza -- which just made headlines June 6 after 40 Palestinians, among them, children, were killed during an attack on a UN-led school.

The Israeli consul general said there are many reasons they chose to screen the videos: among them, they are trying to show the level of brutality they're facing in Hamas, and they're also trying to counter the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S.