In Kibbutz Naan, the flag was lowered to half-mast: “We still haven’t digested even a little bit of what happened”

2023-10-13 03:15:02

Last update: 13.10.2023 | 4:15

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Ceremonies in memory of the dead and fallen were held last night (Thursday) in all the kibbutzim in Israel, as a sign of sympathy with the bereavement of the kibbutzim surrounding Gaza.

Kibbutz Naan, which lost two sons and another son is missing, lowered the Israeli flag in the center of the kibbutz to half-mast. “The kibbutz movement bows its head in sadness and pain for the dead. The citizens, the soldiers and the members of the security forces. The sons and daughters. The parents. The kidnapped and the missing,” said Raya Ben Avraham, director of the Naan community. The members of Kibbutz Naan who fell last Saturday are Tom Godo, who was killed by terrorists while he was protecting his family with spells, and Vifath Gurni, who jumped with the Loter team of Pethat Nitsana to the encircled south and fell in battle. Their brothers, Assaf Godo and Eyal Gurni, lowered the flag to half-mast.

“You walk around the paths and see the immense pain. People are shocked,” says Dafna Zahavi, a member of the kibbutz. Zahavi sang at the ceremony the song ‘Everybody’ by Avraham ben Zehav and David Zahavi, founders of Kibbutz Naan and her husband’s father. “We were very worried about these things for a very long time. We were very anxious and worried about the Yom Kippur war, and we didn’t even know how much. The signs were on the wall, and they were ignored.”

Lowering the Israeli flag to half-mast in Kibbutz Naan. From the right, Dafna Zahavi, Eyal Gurni, Assaf Godo and Raya Ben Avraham (Photo: David Tversky)

From Saturday, the kibbutz mobilizes cookouts, the members collect equipment and support hundreds of soldiers who are in the vicinity of the kibbutz. A number of friends and relatives from the surrounding area have been staying there since Saturday. “My son was approached to help restore the Kissufim barn,” says Zahavi. “Everyone in their place is trying to do what is possible. I am the grandmother of a 14-year-old grandson who lost two of his friends who lived in one of the kibbutzim in Otef. It is a very big break. We will rise from it because we are a strong nation. But now we are in a break.”

“The impulse right now is to go out and do something,” says Ben Avraham. “You can’t sit still. You can’t remain indifferent. Everyone wants to do – even the children. They want to help and contribute because something big is happening here. But the drift hasn’t sunk in yet. We still haven’t digested even a little bit of what happened. There wasn’t even time to cry. Another circle and more A circle and another circle of people.”