‘They got here to kill, and they didn’t care how or who’
WASHINGTON — Noa Beer did not consider in God till she discovered herself surrounded by Hamas terrorists on the Nova Music Competition bloodbath on Oct. 7, 2023, and although they had been trying proper at her and firing, none of their bullets struck her.
The 30-year-old survivor guided The Christian Put up via an unique preview of the Nova Music Competition Exhibition on Thursday, which tells the story of the dance occasion that turned the location of a bloodbath in southern Israel carried out by Hamas, a terror group that has managed the neighboring Gaza Strip since 2007. The exhibit opens Saturday in Washington, D.C., and runs till July 6.
As Beer walked via the exhibit, she shared what she witnessed when murderous terrorists interrupted the competition and detailed how she managed to flee as a whole lot of occasion attendees had been slaughtered or kidnapped.
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Tenting space
The sounds of gunfire and the wail of a number of automotive horns blasting, adopted by the cruel voices of Hamas militants shouting “Allahu Akbar!” reverberated via the Gallery Place entryway, which at the moment homes the Nova Music Competition Exhibition.
Earlier than stepping inside, Beer stated the primary room was the one one which she couldn’t information CP via, as she has post-traumatic stress dysfunction because of the assault.
CP walked via the primary part alone, which resembled an deserted tenting floor.
Tents, garden chairs, snack baggage and digital gadgets littered the first-floor room, and the odor of smoke crammed the air. Later, Beer stated that folks left their belongings behind on the competition web site after they had been compelled to flee, and people gadgets at the moment are on show as a part of the exhibit.
Leaves and sand crunched underfoot as guests walked via the exhibit corridor, with footage of the Hamas assault on the competition taking part in on video screens and cell telephones. The burnt stays of automobiles all through the room instructed a narrative with out phrases in regards to the attendees murdered by terrorists whereas trying to flee of their automobiles.
In between scenes of the Oct. 7 onslaught had been partitions of textual content explaining what occurred on the competition web site and video testimonials from survivors.
On the finish of the primary room, a wall of textual content describes the mass sexual assaults Hamas dedicated through the Nova Music Competition bloodbath. The show featured a quote from Rami Davidian, a civilian who led a rescue effort to avoid wasting competition attendees, who stated he noticed bare women in sexually compromising positions.
In his testimony, Davidian described chopping the our bodies down from bushes and masking them earlier than saying the prayer Sh’ma Yisrael over them.
“Sadly, a lot of the sexual assaults ended within the particular person being assaulted lifeless,” Beer instructed CP exterior of the primary exhibit corridor. “So we do not have a number of stay folks to truly inform us precisely what occurred, however we do have individuals who noticed issues that occurred. We do have a number of voice recordings from conditions that occurred.”
The Nova Music Competition survivor stated the sexual assaults are “among the many most horrible issues that occurred that day.” Beer burdened that the assaults had “nothing to do with conflict” and had been only a “crime in opposition to humanity.”
Noa Beer’s story
A quick video adopted the tenting floor part, exhibiting footage of competition attendees of varied ages and ethnicities dancing collectively and smiling earlier than the assault started. After the video concluded, Beer shared extra of her story with CP as she led the best way upstairs to the subsequent room.
The survivor labored as a reserving agent, and he or she attended the Nova Music Competition in October 2023 alongside a Hungarian DJ whom she had helped schedule to play a set on the occasion. The DJ, who can be a buddy of hers, survived the assault, however like Beer, he additionally carries the load of the horrors he witnessed that day.
“One of many issues that folks want to know is that this was a bloodbath,” Beer instructed CP. “[Hamas] got here there with just one goal: They got here to kill, and they didn’t care how or who.”
Earlier than the violent onslaught that claimed the lives of practically 400 competition attendees, Beer remembered seeing so many “stunning folks” ages 19 via 60, “dancing collectively in concord.”
“So many hugs on the dance flooring and so many smiling folks,” the survivor recalled. “We had been individuals who went to a music competition to bop. None of us got here to bop on occupied land, or for conflict or wished to kill anybody. No, we got here to bop like anybody else would at some other competition wherever else on this planet.”
The competition ambiance modified after Beer’s buddy completed taking part in his set. The 2 determined to remain and benefit from the occasion, however round 6:30 a.m., a safety guard drew the reserving agent’s consideration upward, the place a stream of rockets had lit up the sky.
“I understood that we wanted to cease the music as a result of folks didn’t know what was occurring,” Beer stated, explaining that the competition music had been so loud that many did not hear the rockets launched from Gaza.
After shutting off the music, Beer yelled, “Purple alert!” into the gang, after which she went to search for her DJ backstage. Because of the lack of bomb shelters close by, she instructed the DJ to lie down on the bottom together with his fingers over his head, anticipating the rocket barrage to finish after a minute or two.
“However it went on and on,” the survivor defined. “It wasn’t stopping. I may really feel the bottom shaking from the missiles. It was terrifying, however on the time, all we knew was that there have been missiles within the sky, and we wanted to lie down on the bottom.”
After a number of minutes, a safety guard ultimately took the microphone on stage and instructed everybody to go away the premises. On the time, it appeared like a routine rocket assault, and eager to keep away from a site visitors jam, Beer advised to her DJ buddy that they head again to the automotive and go away shortly.
“We had been driving north for about 10 minutes, and there have been automobiles round us,” the survivor recalled. “Some automobiles had been stopping in bomb shelters on the best way. I do not know what came to visit me, however I had a really unhealthy intestine feeling, and I did not need to go right into a shelter. That ended up saving our lives.”
‘An angel guarding me’
Those that had sought refuge in bomb shelters had no thought on the time that armed Hamas terrorists would begin taking pictures and hurling grenades at them. The survivors who made it out alive hid beneath bloody corpses for hours or performed lifeless.
Ten minutes into the drive, Beer noticed one of many two automobiles in entrance of her abruptly hit the brakes, and the second automobile slammed proper into the primary one. Beer had served as a medic within the Israeli army, so she determined to go over and supply help.
“I opened my automotive door, and the very first thing that occurred after a second of me opening the automotive door was {that a} bullet flew proper subsequent to me,” the survivor stated. “After which one other one and one other one. I raised my eyes, and I noticed there was a terrorist about 20 meters in entrance of us, simply taking pictures at us like loopy.”
Beer did not understand at first that the person taking pictures at her and the DJ was a terrorist as a result of he was sporting a stolen Israeli Protection Forces uniform. Because the bullets stored flying, she understood then that they had been underneath assault by terrorists.
One element in regards to the terrorists that she remembered vividly was how completely happy all of them appeared as they tried to kill her. Beer recalled how one of many terrorists even had a large smile on his face as he shot at her.
“And I am pondering to myself, how evil can an individual be? I’ve nothing to defend myself with. You are having fun with your self, you are laughing,” she stated.
On the street, Beer noticed three injured folks crawling on the bottom towards her, and he or she allow them to into the again seat of her automotive. The DJ who attended the competition was additionally within the automotive, and identical to Beer, no bullets had hit him.
“I really, to at the present time, can say that there was an angel guarding me as a result of the bullets had hit every part round me besides me,” the survivor stated.
Hitting the gasoline, Beer drove away as Hamas militants fired at her automotive and different automobiles stuffed with folks attempting to flee the competition. Whereas Beer was unharmed, two of the passengers she had picked up on the street had been shot. She drove East to a close-by hospital, the place the strangers she had picked up acquired medical consideration.
Earlier than the Nova Music Competition bloodbath, Beer stated that she did not consider in God however now feels as if she should, not seeing some other rationalization for her survival.
“They had been trying straight at me and taking pictures straight at me, they usually missed,” the survivor stated. “So if there is not a God, then it is one thing else, however I am guessing it is a God.”
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Put up. She may be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Observe her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
