‘Red Alert’ exposes truth after Oct 7 and Hollywood’s silence on antisemitism

I’ve spent a good part of my career supporting many causes. And over almost four decades of making movies and TV shows, I’ve worked with people from so many different walks of life — ethnicities, races, women, LGBTQ, etc. And this was before the "woke" generation appeared. I did it because it’s how I saw the world, not because I was "supposed to."

Then came Oct. 8, 2023, the day after the horrific massacre in Israel. I started to notice my phone not ringing. I wasn't getting those calls from this diverse group of people I’d been working with most of my life: "Are you OK?" "Do you have family or friends in Israel, and are they OK?" "Can I come over and hang out with you?" The people I normally saw posting on Instagram were saying things like, "I’m trying to understand," "It’s complicated."

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Hamas terrorists killed civilians, including women, children and the elderly, when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.  (Israel Defense Forces via AP)

Trying to understand? What is there to understand about thousands of terrorists invading Israel and brutally raping, murdering and taking hostages—innocent people who were just sleeping in their beds? What is complicated about that?

Not only were my peers staying quiet, but many also denied the atrocities that happened. Some even started justifying the acts of terror. They began wearing the red handprint as a pin — a symbol of two Israeli reservists who were brutally murdered and whose bodies were mutilated as one of the Palestinian perpetrators waved his blood-soaked hand.

And the antisemitism of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, of which I’ve been a member since 1995, became clear. The very industry that preaches inclusion and empathy mostly turned away when my fellow Jews were being raped and murdered. Even worse, many blamed Israel for all this.

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I was compelled to act, and the result is my limited scripted TV series on Paramount+, "Red Alert." My team and I made it to honor the very people who went through this horrific experience, those who were killed and those who survived. 

Lawrence Bender is seen during the filming of his Paramount+ series "Red Alert," which focuses on the Oct. 7 terror attacks. (Ran Mendelson/Green Productions, Bender Brown Productions, Keshet 12, the IEF, & Paramount+)

It became a mission to tell their stories — to show the truth of these incredible heroes ignored or maligned by Hollywood and the rest of the world. This show is the reason we are here today. And especially now that the living hostages are back and there is a desire to move toward some sort of peace, it can only be done when the truth is recognized. This show dramatizes that truth.

We wanted to have global appeal, so we chose stories that were universally relatable. They are family and underdog stories — a middle-aged mother running off to save her son and, in the process, saving many neighbors; a man trying to save his wife; a mother saving her two daughters as her son is taken into Gaza. And we have a very important story of an Arab family whose father saves his child, himself and ultimately saves an IDF unit. All true. The fact is, most people don't understand how multicultural Israel is — and that many Arabs were also murdered. All these ordinary people became superheroes.

A woman reacts as the community of Kibbutz Kfar Aza commemorates their members who were killed, taken hostage and who died in captivity, following the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas terrorists, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel, Oct. 16, 2025. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)

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For me, this was a life-changing process. The actors in the show are all based on real people, and those people spent a lot of time with us on set — a man whose wife was murdered, a mother whose daughter was murdered, a woman who saved the life of one of our actor’s nieces. It’s impossible not to walk away as a changed person.

When you see "Red Alert," the hope is that you’re moved by this incredible drama and that it helps change the conversation. And for my progressive friends who have gotten it so wrong — who have twisted the truth, excused the terror and demonized Israel — I hope they begin to understand the real truth, which cannot be denied.

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And as the news cycles continue, years from now, you may not remember what happened in any given cycle—but "Red Alert" is here as a testament to the truth and the everyday heroes in Israel.