Former Meta CEO Sandberg says identity as 'a proud Zionist and a proud Jew' strengthened following Hamas massacre

Former Chief Operating Officer of Meta, Sheryl Sandberg, addressed how the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre dramatically transformed her life and brought her closer to her Jewish and Zionist identity.

“I sit on this stage as a different person,” Sandberg told attendees of the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly on Monday.

“Jewish identity is now as important a part of my identity as anything else. I am female, I am a business leader, I am an American, and I am a Jew - and I stand here as a proud Zionist and a proud Jew, in a way I wouldn’t have a year and a half ago,” Sandberg said emotionally.

Raised in a liberal Reform Jewish American home, she admitted that she once believed hatred against Jews was confined to history and did not affect contemporary Jewish Americans.

“Growing up, I thought antisemitism was something that existed in the Soviet Union or history,” Sandberg said. “I knew there was antisemitism because I marched and did all the things, but I thought it was far away.”

However, the Oct. 7 atrocities and the dramatic rise of global antisemitism made her reassess her previous worldview.

“Since then, I’ve found myself saying, ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’” she said.

Sandberg recalled her experience when she saw a booth at her son’s college with the sign, “Safety and Security for Jewish Students.”

“In 2024, I am dropping my kid off at college, and they think they need a booth to tell me my kid’s going to be safe, which means they’re not sure he is,” she argued.

Like many people worldwide, she was shocked to learn about the systematic cases of rapes and sexual assaults committed by Hamas terrorists against Israeli Jewish women on Oct. 7. Sandberg, who is now an independent businesswoman, began to speak out against gender-based violence.

This eventually led to the production of "Screams Before Silence," a documentary that exposes the Hamas sexual violence against women in Israel. Like many other Jews and friends of Israel, she was troubled by how much of the international community chose to ignore the Hamas crimes against Israeli women.

“The silence was deafening,” she recalled.

“This is the most important work of my life and maybe everything I’e done has led to this moment…Rape is not resistance. Sexual violence is never acceptable,” Sandberg stated. “We can take the pain and trauma and turn it into hope, turn it into commitment, turn it into conviction that we are not going to let this happen again.”

The documentary received significant attention and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris decided to host the screening at a special Oct. 7 event at the White House.  

Sandberg stressed that sexual violence against women amid war has existed for centuries.

“We have to remember that for centuries, women’s bodies were seen as part of the spoils of war,” Sandberg said. “If, at this moment, our politics make us so blind that we are denying or facing with silence the clear rape of victim after victim, we lose too much.”

Despite all the horror and challenges, she is optimistic about the future.

“There’s something about young Jewish men, men on campus, speaking out for Israel, speaking out against terror, and speaking out on sexual violence. That gives me hope, and it should give all of us hope,” Sandberg stated while praising Jewish resilience.