2024-10-07 14:35:39
It’s 6:30 in the morning in Re’im. For a few seconds, thumping techno music plays, then a woman’s screams, like a soundcheck gone wrong. The moderator apologized, saying that they would have liked to start the ceremony in memory of the victims of October 7, but some relatives were still stuck in traffic.
Exactly one year ago, thousands of young people were dancing exuberantly here when the sirens sounded around 6.30 am. The music suddenly stopped, at dawn rockets from Gaza streaked across the sky, then Hamas terrorists broke into the area from three sides and fired into the crowd. In the Re’im massacre, 364 people were killed and an estimated 40 hostages were taken to Gaza.
The festival site has now become a kind of mourning pilgrimage site. Monuments with portraits and dedications were built for every dead person and every kidnapped person; a sea of red clay flowers was to commemorate the massacre.
That morning the last song will not be played, the sirens that were supposed to sound again will not be heard, nor will the announced speech of President Itzchak Herzog be heard. According to plan, only the dull sound of artillery fire over the Gaza Strip in the background and the hum of the attack helicopter above the heads of the visitors seem to be proceeding according to plan. Gaza is still very close.
Discontent among grieving families
How difficult it is to remember the greatest trauma ever experienced to date in the history of the State of Israel was already evident in advance: the disagreements, sometimes expressed publicly, between the government, the affected communities and the families of the hostages and victims a year later October 7 also shows the social division of the country. Relatives of the hostages have repeatedly accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of putting his own political survival before the fate of the hostages and the well-being of the country.
Many of the places attacked by Hamas on the Gaza border were considered liberal and were not part of the right-wing governing coalition’s electoral core. Many of them called on the government to address the failures of the security apparatus. Also for Remembrance Day.
There has recently been disagreement over the correct way to commemorate the event. Instead of one large state ceremony, there are now several events. The association of bereaved families held an unofficial act of commemoration in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park, for which tens of thousands of registrations were received within hours of the announcement. Due to the security situation caused by the war with Lebanon and the clashes with Iran, the number of participants was limited to 4,000.
The government announced the live broadcast, for several hours, in three languages, of a state ceremony from the evangelical center “Friends of Zion”. “A quarter of a billion friends of Zion gather for the anniversary of October 7,” the press office said, calling the event “the largest solidarity event in the history of Israel.”
Homage is paid to Israel’s evangelical friends, but hardly a word is said to the families of the victims. The fact that part of the broadcast was filmed in advance at Ofakim also caused dissatisfaction among the grieving families. In the past, the city’s majority voted for Netanyahu’s right-wing governing alliance.
Balancing act between mercy and public interest
Hundreds of guests gathered in Re’im in the morning. Many affected communities are now holding their own commemorative events behind closed doors. Even though he no longer speaks, Itzchak Herzog makes the first stop here on his tour of the affected municipalities.
Foreign state guests such as the French Foreign Minister gather among dozens of journalists, relatives and friends of the victims and women who hand out red felt flowers to the guests in a sign of solidarity.
In Re’im, the balance between pity and public interest has become evident: respecting the privacy of the mourners and at the same time keeping the horror of October 7 and the fate of the hostages in the public eye seems almost impossible here, because everything is exposed.
After a few songs and the Hatikva, the national anthem, the audience gets lost. In front of some photos there are apathetic young people. They would rather cry in silence than in the midst of public commotion. Others walk around the park in groups with portraits of their deceased loved ones on their T-shirts; Daniel Galtmann, 26, stands on one, Ben Fishman on the other.
“I continue to wear the yellow ribbon”
The families of the festival’s victims set up their own individual corners among the trees. Sometimes we pray according to the Orthodox tradition, sometimes we sing. Nearly 100 friends and family gathered around Noa Zander’s photo for a picnic and prayer.
“Forever Noa,” say the t-shirts and pins they wear. The 22-year-old woman was killed by terrorists as she fled to a shelter. “She was something very special, so full of energy and full of warmth and respect for everyone she met,” says her mother Mali Zander. Now she knows the families who come here and finds comfort in sharing the pain of losing her daughter.
Rina Elisabeth Shatel-Levi, 26, openly wears her grief on a pearl necklace with a gold bow. She holds a pillow in her arms, on one side a blue sky with heart-shaped clouds, on the other a photo of her life together with Elio Toledano, 27 years old.
She lived with her partner for seven years until he was kidnapped by Hamas at the Nova festival. His body was recovered by the Israeli army in December. “But I continue to wear the yellow ribbon because I know what it means to belong to a family of hostages and because I want to remember the remaining hostages,” says the little woman while holding back tears.
The sometimes bitter debate about how to think correctly and what questions should be asked seems distant right now. It helps many survivors if there is a place they can go with their grief. And where they might find comfort because they can share it.
#Pain #create #unity