Nancy Diamond is traveling in Israel, on a mission trip sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Fairfield County.
She’s joined by fellow Westporters Sonia Ben Yehuda, Stephanie Gordon, Lisa Hayes, Jeffrey Mayer, Lynn Rabinovici Park and Shirah Sklar.
It’s been both a sobering and inspiring journey. Nancy writes:
Five days into our trip to war-torn Israel we were given unusual access to the sites of the October 7 massacre, when Hamas terrorists conducted a surprise attack on young concert-goers and residents on the border with the Gaza Strip. Most of the areas our group visited are still being treated as crime sites.
Our 18-member group met with residents of two kibbutzim, agricultural settlements that suffered some of the worst brutalities. Families were shot in their homes; women were raped and beheaded; bodies were dismembered and booby trapped with explosives.
In Kibbutz K’far Aza, 63 residents were massacred. Nineteen were kidnapped and taken a few kilometers away to Gaza.
Israeli kibbutz, after the terrorist attack.
Although 14 of the hostages have been returned, a kibbutz resident told us, “Until the rest are back, we cannot move on. We are still at the beginning of the story, and we don’t know where it will go.”
Remembering missing hostages, at a kibbutz.
The scenes at the kibbutzim were horrific: homes pockmarked with bullet holes and burned. Shoes, toys, mattresses and burned appliances strewn about the yards. Red symbols on doorways indicated how many bodies were inside and whether they had been cleared of explosives and terrorists. This process took some 10 days.
Post-attack information — and a sign from a more peaceful time.
We heard first hand descriptions of the ways in which families had sought refuge in safe rooms, some for more than 24 hours. Some fought back, and some lost their lives.
Very few residents have returned to their settlements. Most are refugees in their own country, having been resettled around the country. Several families are housed in our hotel in Tel Aviv, using the lobby as their living room.
As the air shook with the reverberations of Israeli shells exploding a few miles away inside Gaza, the group visited the site of the Supernova music festival where Hamas killed 364 men and women — most in their early 20s — and kidnapped 44.
The festival site has become a spontaneous monument. Pictures of the victims have been propped on steel poles; volunteers placed candles at the foot of the poles, and families have added personal touches including personal notes, flowers, memorabilia, and QR codes for information about the victims. It was heartbreaking to see hundreds of beautiful, young, faces now no longer alive.
The music festival site is now a monument.
Perhaps the most spine-chilling comment we heard came from a kibbutz resident: “This massacre is not an Israeli problem or a Jewish problem. The terrorists have shown us the playbook for their next attack on the West.”
Our group left the Gaza border area exhausted and emotionally drained, but strengthened in our resolve to share these first-hand accounts.
Remembering victims of October 7. (All photos courtesy of Nancy Diamond)
