Terror footage to be viewed

Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has invited county legislators -- presumably among a select group of individuals --to review raw footage of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Hamas, a terrorist group that controls the Gaza strip along Israel's border, murdered and mutilated more than 1,000 Israeli women, children and elderly, took more than 100 Israeli citizens hostage and then gleefully posted video's of the carnage on social media.

Most of the videos are so horrific that they were censured and blocked from view. As a result, some Hamas and Palestine supporters deny there were any killings. They have torn down posters of the Israel hostages and characterize Israel as an oppressive colonizer that denies Palestinians food, water and freedom.

Carefully chosen federal politicians and journalists have viewed the raw footage, to remove doubts about the authenticity of the attacks.

Now Blakeman, through the United Jewish Federation of New York, is offering a viewing to a select group that includes the 19 Republican and Democratic county legislators.

A Blakeman spokesman did not respond to an inquiry about who was invited and whether Hofstra University President Susan Poser was among the invitees.

Blakeman in October had called for the Hofstra Board of Trustees to oust Poser as university president because she did not explicitly condemn Hamas.

Poser, in two public statements, called the assault "horrific and brutal" as well as  as "unspeakable organized violence" But she also said, "There is a complex history and conflicting views about the causal underpinnings of the current crisis."

Blakeman complained "This is not the time for fence sitting and hand wringing. Dr. Poser should have been clear and strong in her condemnation of Hamas without equivocation."

Not mentioned in the back-and-forth was a dispute between Hostra and Blakeman over a proposed casino on the site of the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale.

Hofstra opposes the casino while Blakeman supports it. Hoftra so far has succeeded in getting a court to throw out the Nassau lease with Los Vegas Sands, Inc. because, the state supreme court justice found, the county did not follow New York's open meetings law when considering the $4 - $5 billion project.