When the missiles started appearing in the skies over Israel on Oct 7 of last year, many of the young men and women at the Nova music and dance festival near the Gaza border were not worried. They thought the rockets would be repelled by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. Many kept dancing.
But soon, dozens of hang gliders started soaring in from Gaza, flown by armed men. Pickup trucks and motorcycles filled with terrorists began flooding through the border fence. The small security force at the concert told everyone to leave the area immediately. The music stopped. But it was too late. The killing began. Panic and chaos ensued.
Hamas terrorists invaded the concert grounds and surrounding towns, slaughtering anyone they found, including children. Women were raped and tortured, or taken hostage. The barbarity was brutal and horrific.
Ofri Reiner, 22, had gone to the concert with four friends. She hadn’t intended to go, but a young man she had a crush on had invited her. The five of them drove together and spent the night dancing with hundreds of others. It was a rave party full of energy, joy and love — until the massacre began and they had to run for their lives.
In a riveting account delivered earlier this month to a capacity audience at the Stroum Jewish Community Center, Reiner recalled how she and her friends miraculously survived the onslaught. They got in their car and sped away, but roads were blocked by traffic jams or armed gunmen. They were hit by another car. They drove across a field but got stuck in the dirt. They began fleeing on foot.
At one point, Reiner and a girlfriend were crouched behind some bushes. The terrorists saw them and began firing. They ran again and somehow got away, but Reiner twisted her ankle and was limping in pain. She joined a larger group of people who walked 11 miles for four hours straight without any water. At one point, they found some orange trees and eagerly sucked the juice from the oranges. “It was the best orange I ever tasted,” Reiner recalled.
She didn’t know it at the time, but her brother, a soldier in the Israeli Defense Force, was stationed at a small outpost just a few miles away. Terrorists overran the place and he died along with fellow IDF soldiers.
Also speaking online at the SJCC event was Duki Dror, an Israeli documentary filmmaker, who with his friend Yosi Bloch, decided two days after the attack to collect video footage and make a documentary film.
“This was the most documented mass killing in history and people still denied it,” said Dror in an introduction to his film, Supernova. Dror and Bloch interviewed survivors and collected videos taken on cell phones. They also gained access to Hamas footage taken by terrorists who were captured or killed.
“The process was torturous, but documentary is our job,” Dror said. The film is a must-see for anyone who wants to know what happened on Oct. 7. It is graphic but the most disturbing scenes of bodies and blood are blurred. “It’s a documentary of survival and bravery,” said Dror. “History needs to see how cruel humanity can become.”
The film is an extraordinary documentary, remarkable for its visceral reality. Some of the young people at the rave took videos and selfies while hiding in the bushes and trying to avoid being seen by terrorists. One group of about 30 crowded into a concrete shelter built to hold 10. But terrorists forced the door open and threw in hand grenades, killing almost everyone. One young man hid beneath dead bodies and survived. Two young women huddled on the floor of a porta-potti for 9 hours while bullets pierced walls above their heads. Miraculously, they survived.
Reiner is now touring the country and speaking in public, sponsored by the Jewish National Fund USA.
Her personal account is raw, candid, emotional, and simply unforgettable. She told the SJCC audience: “You’re here to bear witness. How do we proceed from here? In America, we are now going through a period of anti-Semitism. I will keep insisting on bringing more light, although it takes a lot out of me.
“Everything I believed in crashed in front of me, shattering my core beliefs. I called it my spiral.”
Reiner often wonders why she survived while others did not. She said she is suffering from PTSD, has trouble sleeping, is scared when she hears sirens, and feels “the presence of death.”
But she is focusing now on what she and experts call post traumatic growth. “It’s a positive change that can bring more meaning to life.” She went to a retreat of survivors this summer and found comfort. She has begun doing artwork and had an exhibit in an art gallery. “I’m proud of what I’m doing. I’m proud of being brave.”
Yet, she believes that Oct 7 “didn’t leave any family whole. It touches everybody in the room. Israel will never be the same. Grief takes a lifetime. The question for the Jewish nation is: Can it move on and get stronger, or will it collapse?”
As the one-year anniversary of the attack approaches, everyone should watch this film and hear the words of this brave young woman. The film is being streamed online through October 31. A link to Ofri’s presentation is included. Don’t miss it.
What a horrifying story in all of its gruesome detail. We have heard most of it before. What we haven’t heard is what preceded the attack.
I am not an anti-semite. My farther and his family were Jewish. I am anti-zionist. There is a difference. Ask all the Israelis protesting Netanyahu’s war(s).
What we haven’t heard much about is that Netanyahu knew the terrorist Hammas attack was coming and did nothing. Why? He wanted an excuse to, once and for all, finish off the Palestinians. And that is what he is getting. In the process, he is sacrificing all those dead and captured hostages. Now, onto Lebanon to finish off the rest of the Palestinians. All with Biden’s full-throated support and his feeble calls for a cease-fire.
So, what about the Palestinians “protecting” Hamass? Would you, could you resist a terrorist organization living and functioning in your midst? Would you, could you or your child, toddler or infant resist? Or would you respond to their appeals that cite the Jewish “settlers” who have stolen your land? Either way, you and your family are all gonna die.
[Settlers. Sound familiar? That is what we benignly called the terrorists who killed all those Native Americans]
Biden’s support of the Netanyahu government could well cost Kamala the Presidency. Is that what you want? Or are you willing to tell the truth, the whole truth about the mess in the Middle East and all of the self-serving participants.
I guess I will never get this – Biden and Harris’s support of Israel will give the election to Trump, who is really its most outspoken unconditional supporter? The whole thing smacks of people not using their heads, and this part just really puts it in focus.
Biden, Harris and Trump all support Israel to at least some extent, because the American people do, making it their only option. Beating up Harris because Trump is beyond reach is extremely foolish.
David — Thanks for your comment. I admire Post Alley’s encouragement of thoughtful online discussions. Debate is what makes America great. Glad you’re not antisemitic. Me neither. I was in a Jewish fraternity in college and have been a J member for 25 years. I’m not Jewish, but am an ally of Israel and hope they can survive this existential crisis. As for being antizionist, I understand your concerns but that term needs more careful definition in my view. It can be a screen for antisemitic activity, as we’ve seen in many campus protests. This weekend’s Wall Street Journal has an excellent article in its Review section about Netanyahu, titled “The Tactics of a Political Survivor.” I urge you to read it. He’s walking a genuine tightrope. Do you have proof that he knew the Oct. 7 attack was coming? If so, please provide it. Fact-checking is vital these days, with so much misinformation out there, some of it deliberately false. He clearly wants to eradicate Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and their Iranian funders, but I see no evidence he wants to “finish off the Palestinians.” That’s just not true. I’ve been to Israel twice and talked with Palestinians who had good jobs and worked alongside Israeli Jews. Many just want peace and stability and better lives for their families. A “two-state solution” now seems unlikely since Oct. 7. You are right that for Palestinians to resist the terrorists is unrealistic. Those who do are killed. Those who agree to go along are rewarded. (It’s much like Germans who tried to resist Hitler. I had some in my family, who hid Jews at great personal risk.) Finally, I won’t vote for Kamala OR Trump. Both are terribly flawed candidates. As to your final question about telling “the truth, the whole truth” about the Middle East, I wish I knew what that is. You seem confident that you do. I envy your certitude. Want to enlighten me over coffee sometime?
I no longer have the evidence that Netanyahu knew the attack was coming. Believe I read it in the New York Times soon after Oct 7.
Anti Zionist is a Screen for AntiSemitic? How so? There must be a term for my position. Are all those Jews protesting Netanyahu Anti-Semitic?
Yes a two state solution (the only just solution) is no longer realistic. Neither Netanyahu or Hammas will agree to that. This all goes back to the British who arbitrarily partitioned the Middle East after WW2. Do the Jews deserve a homeland after the Holocaust ? Maybe. But at the cost to the Palestinians who have the same ancient claim to their land in the Middle East?
50,000+ dead Palestinians and uncounted numbers of West Bank Palestinians is not proof that Netanyahu wants to finish off the Palestinians? Settlers stealing Palestinians’ land is not proof? Netanyahu just “legalized” the settlements. How is that just? (Such actions just push Palestinians into the Amass camp.) No more just than the European settlers who tried to wipe out the Native Americans in the name of Manifest Destiny.
Not voting for Trump or Kamal is a cop-out. Look at all that they stand for and their records. Look at Project 2025. Do you really believe Trump when he says he hasn’t read it? Regardless, his aspirations match project 2025. Surely, you can see the existential threat that Trump poses to Democracy.
By not voting for either, are you planning to skip voting altogether? How about Congress? How about state and local candidates and issues? Do you support taxes for public schools?
I don’t agree with Kamala’s flip flop on fracking, or her position on guns. Yet, we must make hard decisions and stay engaged beyond voting to advocate for everything else we believe in.
David,
I think we can agree on the fact that there is evidence Netanyahu cynically let Hamas use funds from Qatar, etc. to build up the terrorist organization’s arms and tunnel network. It also seems clear that he and the party he represents don’t have any interest in a two-state solution. However, to state that he knew about October 7th and did nothing is akin to 9/11 truther conspiracy and totally beyond the pale. It’s also a stretch to compare the long, complex, and tragic history of Native Americans to Israel.
No doubt the history of the modern middle east contributes to the current conflict but I think it’s clear that the moral calculus favors Israel. Let’s review the facts: 1) Hamas (and other terrorist proxies of Iran) state clearly that their goal is the elimination of the state of Israel. 2) As John describes, Hamas (who Palestinians elected in 2006 to lead Gaza) brutally attacked, killed, tortured, and kidnapped Israeli civilians on October 7th. 3) Hamas hides in an underground network of tunnels in residential areas (homes, hospitals, schools, etc.) and cynically uses the collateral deaths of Palestinian non-combatants (human shields) in a propaganda campaign to manipulate world opinion 3) Hamas executes hostages. 4) Hamas and Hezbollah, etc. are totalitarian terrorist organizations who make life harder for the populations under their sway (Gazans, Lebanese, Yemeni).
Now let’s review the democratic and multiethnic state of Israel. 1) Israel exists among states that are antagonistic to its very existence and have continually attacked it through its modern history (via all out war or the use of proxies). Despite this, Israel’s default stance has been one of restraint and a desire for peace/stability. 2) Israel does not target civilians – it targets those who attack it (who often hide among civilians). In fact, Israel uses its resources to telegraph and warn civilians of its military activities. 3) Israel is a tolerant and multiethnic democracy composed of Jews, Arabs, Druze, etc. It does not repress its own people. 4) Israel was viciously attacked on October 7th and has continually been attacked over the last year (by Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, etc).
Whether you want to call it antizionism or antisemitism, there is an incredible double standard when it comes to Israel. There are conflicts all over the world. Not long ago, Al-Assad was busy destroying the resistance to his despotic regime by leveling whole Syrian cities with indiscriminate destruction (with Iran backing). Yet, there were no mass protests in Western cities or encampments on college campuses…
We can and should have sympathy for innocents who are hurt/killed in the current conflict but we need to also have the moral clarity to understand the source of that suffering – Hamas (and Iran). You seem to think there was some justification for October 7th – that Israel had it coming somehow. I don’t understand that point of view at all – it’s non-factual and rooted in extremist propaganda. Israel has the right to defend itself. The United States should support it as an ally and as a free, democratic society.
Israel had it coming because they have the upper hand. It’s as simple as that – it’s victim vs. oppressor black and white, and that calculus drives a lot of people. Maybe I’m not being fair, but that’s how it looks to me.
It’s easy to paint Israel as oppressor, because it’s true. Hamas of course oppresses Gaza, but residents of Gaza are now more directly and visibly victims of the Israelis (as Hamas certainly was counting on), so Hamas doesn’t really complicate the victim/oppressor picture.
What I’d like to know – who has a good idea for where this ought to go, down the road? Could there even hypothetically ever be a responsible modern state there in what is now Gaza, with perhaps a democratically elected government that doesn’t have to tolerate terrorism and a population that has no interest in it? Just chase out the toxic Israeli religious faction and Netanyahu, and do right by the Palestinians and that will straighten everything out? Or is it like trying to teach hornets to live like bees, and there isn’t really anything to be done about them other than limit their ability to strike Israel?
The mass protests are because America is providing the bombs for the genocide of the Palestinian people.
I have unanswered questions about some aspects of the Hamas attack, which was horrific. The beginning of my essay is first-hand from a Jewish friend whose niece was one of the female Israeli soldiers. Just as the Hamas attack began her computer went dead and she immediately sealed shut the door to her station. All her colleagues were killed.
Prior to October 7 female Israeli soldiers monitoring the border with Gaza reported to their superiors that there was “increased activity” on the Gaza side of the border. They were told repeatedly “not to be concerned about this increased activity”.
Charred vehicles from the Israeli youth fleeing the attack were attributed to helicopter attacks by the Israeli military – the “Hannibal” directive.
There was, I think, a lapse of some hours before the Israeli army personnel arrived to help defend the Israeli youth. WHY?
The Netanyahu government promised an investigation of these lapses. A year has passed. No investigation has taken place.
It is puzzling that a two-day music festival, featuring Nova Trance Music, was held so close to the border with Gaza on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war. What was the government thinking to allow such a provocation????
Prior to the attack Netanyahu supported Hamas financially, through Qatar. Given the Israeli security apparatus, the government had to have known that Hamas was building tunnels under Gaza.
Netanyahu refuses to negotiate for the lives of Israeli hostages.
Netanyahu has stated that God gave all of Israel, including the occupied territories where Palestinians have continued to live even after 1948, to Jews.
Netanyahu is referred to as “extremist right wing”, but the truth is, the Israelis agree with him. They oppose his individual power but even if he were to go away the claim to all of the land in Israel is shared with him and his allies.
The Israeli government was well-aware of the Hamas plans for October 7 – they have admitted as much, saying they believed the plans were “aspirational”. Investigations into this misjudgment were promised. A year later, no investigation results have been revealed.
My suggestion is – given Israel’s deep and extensive surveillance techniques and their violent use of such technologies as the recent pager explosions, and their lack of concern for the Israeli hostages, the government of Israel was willing to sacrifice a few thousand of their own citizens for the opportunity to commit genocide against Palestinians in order to achievee their territorial objectives of “From the river to the sea” for the millions of Jews living in israel.
AIPAC makes no secret of their influence on American politicians. Although I am horrified by the genocide of Palestinian citvilians taking place in real time, it is no use to protest the genocide. My own two United States senators receive $700,000 and $400,000 apiece from AIPAC. I have no voice. The AIPAC contributions to American colleges and universities is enormous. We have decided, as a country, that Palestinian lives are expendable. We – Israel and the United States – have become Nazis.
Kate – I’m sorry but anyone who uses the term genocide to describe the war in Gaza loses all credibility among rational, informed people. If you can’t distinguish the Nazis/holocaust with the tragic but impossible to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza as Israel wages a just war against a terrorist death cult, then you need to run for the exits of your social media echo chamber. You are deep in conspiracy land and the only beneficiaries of Americans being so morally confused are the truly despotic regimes in this world – Iran/Russia/NKorea, etc.
THIS. I’m on board with the idea that Israel has probably committed war crimes in their response to Hamas, but genocide is a specific word with a specific meaning and using it as lazily as the American left does is reckless….no….I’m gonna up/downgrade that to stupid and dishonest. And also unhelpful.
Whoa!
The ignorance and bigotry comes out!
I apologize for referring to Israel and the United States as becoming Nazi governments. A while ago I wrote, for my own reflection, a bit about evil itself in government. I think the peculiar evil of the Nazis – the essence – was a pleasure in killing people who were vulnerable. And I see that in the U.S. 1991 war against Iraq, and I see it, also, in episodes in Israel’s history, especially with the late president Ariel Sharon, and the Sabra Shatila massacres, for which he became known to Arabs as a “butcher”. And I see it happening now.
Interesting analysis from Thomas Friedman reprinted in the Seattle Times reminds us (I think this is not news) that the attack was aimed at disrupting relations that were under way between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Hamas has done it before – suicide attacks to disrupt peace processes – though not on this scale.
Not to go into the details of his analysis, which could be misguided or not, but he ends up some hope that some part of the Arab world has no interest in this struggle and things could still move in a positive direction if Israel could work with the Palestinians. Seems absurdly optimistic, but maybe less so if a new prime minister could be elected.
More realistic analyses are in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal: columns by Gerard Baker, Walter Russell Mead, and the lead editorial. All three are well worth reading.
Wall Street Journal articles are Worth reading? Please give unbiased svummaries for those of us without access. Abxent that, you are not persuasive.
It isn’t a conspiracy theory that Netanyahu ignored intelligence reports predicting the Oct 7 Hamas attack.
From the New York Times Published Nov. 30, 2023Updated Dec. 2, 2023:
“Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago
A blueprint reviewed by The Times laid out the attack in detail. Israeli officials dismissed it as aspirational and ignored specific warnings.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-attack-intelligence.html
Why did Netanyahu ignore this intelligence? He would never admit it, but the Hamas attack sure did give him an excuse to attack Gaza and finish off the Palestinians once and for all. 40,000+ dead Gaza Palestinians don’t lie. And now the inevitable expansion into Lebanon. How many dead there until that war is over? And on to Iran. With the full-throated support from the US. Wimpy, ineffective Biden begs for a ceasefire rather than withholding military support. Where will it all end? With nuclear war? Blood of the innocent civilians on the hands of Netanyahu, Hamas, Hezbollah, Biden and all the rest of the war mongers and terrorists.
The Israeli settlements say everything about Netanyahu’s intentions to obliterate the Palestinians. You don’t steal someone’s land if you plan to live in peace with them. Legalizing “Settlements” is just slow motion genocide. And don’t get legalistic about the term genocide. Everyone knows it means destroying a people. Especially the victims of Hitler’s holocaust. Just as many Jews survived the holocaust, survival of some Palestinians doesn’t deny that Netanyahu is attempting genocide. Even all of the Israelis protesting Netanyahu’s regimen know that.
Amazing how Orwellian perspectives become so ingrained in so many – I guess it’s the faddish “oppressor/colonizer” heuristic that has lazily become the shortcut to “thinking” and “analysis” based on evidence and moral/ethical reasoning. All wars involve civilian causalities but somehow when it’s Israel defending itself, it’s now “genocide.” The reality is that Israel was attacked and must defend itself and stop another October 7th from occurring. That means an end to the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah that border it and spend all their time/resources planning Israel’s demise. The US is right to support the end to these groups and weakening of the Iranian regime.