Robert Spencer : Saturdayās attack on the open-air Tribe of Nova
music festival is believed to be the worst civilian massacre in Israeli
history, with at least 260 dead and a still undetermined number taken
hostage. [No: the attack was not just at the music festival, but at two
dozen sites all over southern Israel; 1000 Israelis were murdered
in what was āthe worst civilian massacre in Israeli history.ā] Dozens
of Hamas militants who had blown through Israelās heavily fortified
separation fence and crossed into the country from Gaza opened fire on
about 3,500 young Israelis who had come together for a joyous night of
electronic music to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkotā¦.
āWe were hiding and running, hiding and running, in an open
field ā the worst place you could possibly be in that situation,ā said
Arik Nani from Tel Aviv, who had gone to the party to celebrate his 26th
birthday. āFor a country where everyone in these circles knows
everyone, this is a trauma like I could never imagine.āā¦
Festival-goers who managed to make it to the road and parking
lot where their vehicles were parked found themselves trapped in a
traffic jam, with militants stalking the cars and spraying those inside
with gunfire. Drone footage of the scene taken after the attack
and reviewed by the AP show chaotic lines of cars where drivers had
attempted to flee. Some burned-out vehicles were flipped onto their
sides, while others had bullet holes visible in shattered windows.
Nowhere was safe, Alper said. The roar of explosions,
hysterical screams and automatic gunfire felt closer the further she
drove. When a man just meters away shouted āGod is great!ā, Alper and
her new companions sprung out of the car and sprinted through open
fields toward a mass of bushes.
Alper felt a bullet whiz past her left ear. Aware the gunmen
would outrun her, she plunged into a tangle of shrubs. Peering through
thorns, she said she saw one of her passengers, the girl who had lost
her friend, shriek and collapse as a gunman stood over her limp body,
grinning.
āI canāt even explain the energy they (the militants) had. It
was so clear they didnāt see us as human beings,ā she said. āThey
looked at us with pure, pure hate.ā
Videos show the gunmen executed some of the wounded at point-blank range as they crouched on the groundā¦.
āEvery time I thought of anger, or fear or revenge, I breathed it out,ā she said. āI
tried to think of what I was grateful for ā the bush that hid me so
well that even birds landed on it, the birds that were still singing,
the sky that was so blue.āā¦
Even in her fear and despair, Maya Alper managed to hold on for more
than six hours by thinking about ā itās a line of pure poetry ā āthe
birds that were still singing, the sky that was so blue.ā
āThis is not just war. This is hell,ā Alper said. āBut in
that hell I still feel that somehow, we can choose to act out of love,
and not just fear.ā
Remember this account. Remember the Hamas men moving methodically to
mow down everyone ā those trying to escape in cars, those who ran across
open fields, those who tried to get into shelters, those who tried to
play dead and then were dead. Remember the Hamas killer, having just
murdered a girl, who was seen by Maya Alper standing over her limp body,
grinning.