Kingsley Wilson’s horrifying words on Oct. 7 and abortion – The Forward

The graves of 8-year-old Aline Kapshitter and her 5-year-old brother, Eitan, both victims of the Oct. 7 attacks. Photo by Ilan Assayag

Carly Pildis
March 6, 2025

Kingsley Wilson, the newly-appointed deputy Pentagon press secretary, has a record of antisemitic social media posts so bad that Republican senators and former Trump officials are questioning her fitness to serve in the Trump administration.

But shocked as I was by Wilson’s tacit endorsement of the far-right Great Replacement Theory, her disdain for the U.S.-Israel relationship, and her abhorrent statement that the lynched Jewish American Leo Frank was guilty of rape and murder — even though modern historians overwhelmingly agree on his innocence — I want to focus on a uniquely disturbing claim of hers, one that cuts to the core of the Jewish soul.

On Oct. 12, 2023, she posted on X: “The images of the babies murdered by Hamas are horrific. I wish images of aborted babies evoked a similar global outcry.”

That comment almost made me physically ill. Thirty-eight  precious children were killed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. Yet instead of simply expressing horror or sympathy — any of the sentiments that might arise from basic decency — Wilson appropriated the precious memory of those children for her politics. Simply put, she stole from our overwhelming grief and pain to push her agenda in a sickening fashion.

There can be no equivalence between the horrific deaths of the children she so callously mentioned and having an abortion. Our dear children were not talking points. They were people with full lives and bright futures awaiting them.

Mila Cohen, who had a lovely little tuft of brown hair, was 9 months old when she was shot and killed in her mother’s arms. Her father was also killed. An obituary shared by Kibbutz Be’eri, where she lived, noted that “everyone enjoyed the family harmony that Mila created around her.”

Omer Kedem Siman Yov was 2. He was murdered with his parents and sisters, the 5-year-old twins Shahar and Arbel.

Another set of twins, Liel and Yannai Hetzroni, 12, were burned alive. At their funeral, Liel was described as “a great girl who loved to go crazy with her friends — a troublemaker with a pure heart, a girl with a huge laugh.” Yannai’s teacher called him “a leader among his peers and an amazing friend.”

Eitan Kapshitter, 5, was murdered alongside his family — including his sister, Aline, 8 — on the way home from a camping trip celebrating his birthday. Tamar Chaya Torpiashvili, 9, was described as “an angel in the form of a graceful girl, beautiful on the outside and no less beautiful on the inside.” Yifrach Kotz, 14, who loved basketball, was murdered alongside his entire family, including his big brother Yonatan, 16. His aunt said he and Yonatan “were children of nature; they always walked barefoot.” Noya Dan, 13, loved Harry Potter.

Each of the children killed on Oct. 7 had stories like these — stories that showed how vibrant and complex their lives were. Are our children people to Wilson at all, or just a tool to be used in her anti-abortion desecration of their memories?

While Wilson is entitled to her beliefs, it is nauseating that she chose the deaths of Israeli children on Oct. 7 to promote her views. Comparing a woman’s right to choose with living children burned alive or shot at point blank range is atrocious. It is especially repugnant given that abortion is legal and accessible in Israel — and that reproductive rights are strongly supported by the Jewish American community.

In Wilson’s analogy, a woman seeking an abortion is akin to a terrorist. I envision, instead, a woman, pregnant and frightened, seeking access to medical care.

Maybe her pregnancy is life-threatening.

Maybe she already has children she can scarcely afford to raise.

Maybe she was raped.

Maybe she desperately wants a baby and went through rounds of IVF, only to heartbreakingly find out the fetus wasn’t viable.

Maybe she is a teenager and the condom broke.

Maybe she simply isn’t ready to be a mom. Maybe it is none of Kingsley Wilson’s business.

I am furious that my government would elevate someone who, while Israeli forensic experts were still working to identify the ashes of our children, was already using their memories to attack abortion.

Wilson has the right to believe anything she likes, however perverse as I may find it. But as a Pentagon spokesperson, she represents the U.S. government. That is a responsibility that requires, at the bare minimum, a clear understanding that a woman in need of an abortion is not the same as a terrorist who burns children alive. It is supposed to be an honor and a privilege to serve the American people, but after reading her remarks on our children murdered on Oct. 7, I am not sure Wilson has any honor at all.