Survivor of Hamas attacks speaks at Holocaust Center
It has been a year since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the deadliest in the country’s history. Since the attack, many survivors, like Shir Zohar, have traveled across the United States, describing their own experience of the harrowing events.
Last Sunday, Zohar shared the details of her narrow escape with a gathering at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County. Dressed in black, she recounted attending the Nova Music Festival in Re’im with her best friend, Esther. As missiles filled the sky, they tried to flee, but encountered terrorists disguised in the uniforms of the Israel Defense Forces. Desperate to escape, Esther drove through the attackers, but their car was hit by gunfire and they were forced to flee on foot.
The pair found temporary shelter with a young man named Ori Arad, who selflessly tried to help them escape. Despite his efforts, their car was shot at again, and crashed, after which Arad was killed while trying to protect them. Zohar and Esther, injured but alive, pretended to be dead to avoid being taken by terrorists, and were eventually rescued by IDF soldiers.
Zohar described her constant fear of capture and the miracles that saved her and Esther’s lives. While fighting back tears, she said that Esther, despite serious injuries, displayed extraordinary strength and survival instincts.
As well, Zohar now considers Arad a hero. His sacrifice ensured their survival, and she feels a deep responsibility to honor his memory.
Zohar, Holocaust survivors and others gathered at the center for the unveiling of a new memorial commemorating the 1,200 people killed in the attack by Hamas militants. A stone memorial, surrounded by yellow and velvet chrysanthemums, now sits outside the center. Its plaque reads, “May their memory be a blessing and one day we will all dance again.”
Hamas and other militant groups also took more than 250 hostages last Oct. 7, with many abductions captured on video by the attackers and shared across social media, amplifying the shock. The surprise nature and scale of the attack led to an immediate and intense response from Israel, which declared war and launched extensive airstrikes on Gaza to dismantle Hamas and rescue the hostages.
“This is not just a commemoration — this is an affirmation that we must free the hostages,” Rabbi Irwin Huberman, of Congregation Tiferith Israel, in Glen Cove, told the Herald after Sunday’s event. “Because when the hostages are released, then this conflict will very quickly wind down. The events of Oct. 7 were antisemitic in nature. The Jews were attacked for no other reason than they were Jewish. Hamas said that they would do this again and again and again and retreated with hostages to Gaza, hiding behind hospitals and schools and women and children.”
Alan Mindel, chairman of the Holocaust Center, emphasized the persistent nature of hatred and its connection to the atrocities of the Holocaust as well as ongoing extremist violence in Israel. He drew parallels between historical events, such as the rise of the Nazi regime, and present-day support for groups like Hamas, stressing the need to confront and educate those who support such ideologies.
“The hate that murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped these people is the same type of hate that caused the Holocaust,” Mindel said.
He spoke of the resilience of the Jewish people, particularly by recalling the 1945 liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where survivors, despite their suffering, sang “Hatikvah,” symbolizing their enduring hope. Mindel’s message of strength and perseverance affirmed that the Jewish community will stand firm in defense of its values, with or without external support.
“We are no longer the Jews everyone likes, the dead Jews,” Mindel said. “We love humanity. We are so thankful for the righteous that stand with us. We ask for people like each of you to stand with us. But if not, we will still stand with or without you. We will always be here.”
