(Left) Israelis killed during Re'im music festival massacre (Right) Hamas terrorists
What Pakistan-sponsored 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks are for Bharat, similarly, the October 7 massacre of innocent Israelis by Hamas terrorists represents for Israel. Both nations are fighting proxy wars emanating from their neighbourhood.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists crossed all limits of brutality. More than 1,200 people were killed in these Hamas-led attacks, while approximately 251 people were abducted and taken to Gaza as hostages. At the site of the Nova Music Festival, 378 people were killed, and 44 were taken hostage.
These terrorists not only attacked people participating in the Nova festival, but also went around nearby kibbutzim where they slaughtered whoever came their way. They didn’t even spare kids. Those who have witnessed or survived this massacre still have not overcome the trauma. Simcha Greinman, a Zaka volunteer for 32 years, narrates the story of a kibbutz which was attacked by Hamas terrorists. He says that a knife was lodged in a little child’s head, inside the skull. A hammer lay on the floor next to him. Pieces of the skull were on the hammer. He says that while cleaning, he and his team went to another building. His team found that terrorists put a live grenade in a woman’s hand so she would not move, and then they raped her. In another building, his team found thirty bodies, most of them naked women. Even foreigner workers were not spared. There were many Thai citizens whose remains were found in a huge pool of blood. Terrorists slaughtered them all. People were burnt, strangled, and choked with barbed wire.
Describing a horrifying scene, one survivor of the Nova festival says the whole road was full of heads. Every single yard we drove was full of heads. You could see a body inside the car, but the head was outside. They placed their heads in the middle of the road just like that.
“On Sunday, October 8th, I found a woman who was tied to a tree. Her head was tied with a flannel rope. She was tied to the head and was actually hanging on the tree. Her hands were tied back. She was completely naked. She had a cluster of bullets in her back, full of dry blows all over her body, and the whole pelvic area was… like… there’s no question what happened there. There were many, many bruises on the pelvis and also cuts in this particular area. From here, you can understand what happened. Moreover, I only saw her back and not the front side. But what I saw from…,” says Natan Kenig, a Zaka volunteer, as mentioned by Alon Penzel, who has documented these brutalities.
Now, coming to the Nova festival. There were many young people who were brutally killed by Islamists. Hamas terrorists came from the Gaza Strip. During my visit to Israel in July this year. I visited the place where this mass killing happened. Hundreds of people, many youngsters who were participating in the Nova festival, were killed. Even if they tried to run or escape, they were chased and slaughtered. Here are few stories neared by family members.
Barak Davidi arrived at the Nova party at 5:30 a.m., and managed to dance and enjoy for one hour until the sirens began to be heard at the party. From there, he went out onto the road and drove past the Alumim junction until he reached a police checkpoint, where he was stopped and asked to turn around and head back toward where the party had been. After he turned, he reached the Alumim shelter. Two patrol cars were outside the shelter, and a policeman told him to enter. Barak was among the first to enter the shelter and remained there until the terrorists arrived and murdered him in cold.
Amit Lahav was a person who loved challenges and adventure, a diver, a surfer and a horseback rider. But above all, music was the greatest passion of her life. She loved all kinds of music. Music accompanied and enriched the soundtrack of her life, and thus became an integral part of her personality. After her military service, Amit went on a long post-army trip to South and Central America, where she experienced the world in all its intensity. After returning to Israel, she intended to begin studying Computer Science. On October 7, 2023, at the Nova party at Reim, Amit’s life was brutally cut short when she was with her best friend Shira Eyton, who was also killed. They hid behind a small shelter, and when they heard gunshots, they ran toward the fields. There they encountered a squad of terrorists; Amit was shot in the back while trying to escape. He worked as a security team leader at one of Israel’s strategic facilities and, in his final year, embarked on a promising real estate venture.
Tomer Starosta, served as a fighter in the Iron Dome battery unit and had many good friends whom he had found everywhere he went, in Israel and around the world. After his military service, Tomer travelled in Israel and abroad. Tomer loved to have a good time and to go to parties, and that is what he did on the last weekend of his life. That weekend, he knew he was going to a party… with other partygoers from all corners of the world. That weekend Tomer danced at the NOVA party at Ro’im. It was a party from which at 6:29 that morning, Octobor 7, Tomer was still celebrating life and was as happy as could be. At 6:30 a.m., when sirens began blaring across the country, Tomer was still filming the missile Interceptions. When he realised that there was a terrorist infiltration, he and his friends (Almog Jan, and Tair and Hodaya David) all got into the car and started driving, hoping to get home safely. As they tried to escape from the party area, they reached Route 232 – the Death Road. They were stopped there by a vehicle carrying terrorists who fired at Tomer’s car continuously. Tomer and his friends still managed to get out of the car and find shelter in the bushes. But this didn’t save them, and Tomer was murdered by the terrorists. Tair and Hodaya David were also murdered, but his friend Almog Meir Jan was kidnapped and taken to Gaza. He was eventually rescued from captivity in “Operation Arnon”.
Having said this, the October 7 terror attack is a reminder to the world that it is time to stand together against proxy wars and terrorism. Terrorism can only be eradicated when we dismantle its sources and confront those who enable and support it. Like Israel, Bharat has also been dealing with this menace for decades, particularly with terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
