On Wednesday night, I visited the University of Texas at Austin to address students there — and so did notorious Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.
asserted
Piker → visit → students
I, a female survivor of Hamas’ brutal terror, came to share my story at the campus’ Chabad student center.
On an auditorium stage half a mile away stood Piker, who once said about the day I was shot and taken: “It doesn’t matter if rapes f–king happened on Oct. 7, like that doesn’t change the dynamic for me even this much.”
This man sold out the 460-seat venue where he spoke within 20 minutes, and another 2,500 people joined a waiting list.
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people → come → list
He isn’t a fringe character on college campuses; he’s increasingly becoming the mainstream on campus.
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he → become → campus
But his enthusiastic fans are the people who most need to hear my story.
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who → need → story
On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, I was dancing at the Nova music festival.
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I → dance → festival
I was 21 and naive, enjoying some fun with my friends during a weekend that would feel familiar to any of the students I met in Austin.
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I → enjoy → Austin
But in moments, my life changed forever.
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life → change → moments
When the rockets started, my friend group — Omer Shem Tov, Ori Danino, and my brother Itay — ran for our car, but Hamas terrorists opened fire on us.
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terrorists → start → us
Two bullets hit my leg; Itay was shot in the thigh.
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Itay → hit → thigh
Within hours, we were being held hostage in Gaza.
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we → hold → Gaza
I was held for 50 days, in excruciating pain: The bullets had crushed two inches of bone, leaving my foot barely attached.
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bullets → hold → foot
After five days’ imprisonment in a private house, I was taken to a hospital in Gaza, where I remained for the rest of my captivity, separated from my brother and friends.
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I → take → brother
My captors subjected me to a botched surgery that reattached my foot at a severe and incorrect angle.
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that → subject → angle
At the hospital, I was held alongside another hostage, Guy Iluz, who had been badly wounded on Oct. 7.
Denied the medical treatment he needed, he died from his injuries right beside me.
I was released seven weeks after the attack, on Nov. 25, and Itay came home four days later.
My friend Omer, though, was held for more than 500 days — and Ori never came home at all.
Ori’s bravery saved our lives: He manage to escape to the car that morning, but he drove back for us.
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he → hold → us
Hamas murdered him in a tunnel in Rafah in August 2024, along with five other hostages.
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Hamas → murder → hostages
Hasan Piker isn’t moved by any of that.
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Piker → move → that
Nor does he care that United Nations investigators found reasonable grounds to believe that women were raped and sexually tortured at Nova, on the roads where we were captured, and in captivity.
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we → care → captivity
I do not need a report to tell me what those men are capable of.
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men → need → what
I know: I was in their hands for 50 days.
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I → know → days
But the documentation of Hamas’ depravity changed nothing for Piker.
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documentation → change → Piker
In January, he wrote that “Hamas is a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state” of Israel.
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Hamas → write → Israel
In April, he said, “I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.”
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I → say → Israel
The men who shot me, held me hostage, left Guy Iluz to die from his wounds beside me, and executed my friend Ori.
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who → shoot → friend
I did not go to Texas to debate Hasan Piker — you cannot debate a person who tells you that rape does not matter.
But we have a problem if Americans are more interested in hearing the words of a rape and terror apologist than the testimony of a victim of the ideology he advocates.
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he → go → ideology
I came to Austin because when I was in Gaza, the people holding me wanted one thing from me: silence.
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people → come → silence
The truth does not speak for itself.
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truth → speak → itself
Somebody has to say it.
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Somebody → have → it
Hasan Piker has every right to say what he says; this is America.
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this → have → what
But the right to speak does not confer the right to be handed a stage, a lecture hall, an interview, or a place in anyone’s political campaign.
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right → speak → campaign
A man like this can claim only one thing: your attention.
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man → claim → thing
Americans must decide whether he gets it.
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he → decide → it
People this full of hate used to be pushed to the edges of society, where they belong.
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they → use → society
It’s time for us to put them back there.
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us → ’ → them
When Hasan Piker says he would choose Hamas “every single time,” you can choose to look away from him — every single time.
Maya Regev was taken hostage from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, and held in Gaza for 50 days.
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Regev → say → days
The Aporia
