Once I first heard that Israeli civilians had been being massacred on the nation’s Gaza border, I considered my good friend Amir Tibon. Amir is an exceptionally gifted journalist who’s fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, and has devoted his life and expertise to humanistic protection of what can typically be a dehumanizing area. His writing consists of award-winning reporting on efforts to attain a two-state answer and a biography of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
On Sunday, I didn’t know whether or not he was alive or lifeless.
That’s as a result of Tibon lives in Nahal Oz, a small group bordering Gaza that has no Iron Dome missile protection to guard it. On Saturday, it got here underneath mortar hearth from above and was invaded on the bottom by Hamas terrorists. Throughout their incursion into Israel, they murdered greater than 900 Israelis, whereas brutalizing and kidnapping many others, most of them civilians. The dying toll is constant to rise.
Tibon and his household survived the indiscriminate slaughter, however solely after enduring a horrifying ordeal. Simply earlier than he put his two younger daughters to mattress tonight, we spoke about what occurred, how he was saved, why he thinks Israel arrived at this level, and what he want to see from the worldwide group within the days forward. Our dialog has been edited and condensed for readability.
Yair Rosenberg: What does your life appear like proper now?
Amir Tibon: I’m blissful to be alive. I’m blissful my household is alive. I’m staying with my prolonged household. I’m frightened sick about associates and neighbors who had been injured or kidnapped into Gaza. And I’m frightened about my nation.
Rosenberg: As a religiously observant Jew, I don’t use electronics or entry the web on Jewish holidays or the Sabbath, so by the point I logged on after two days offline, you had posted that you simply had been protected and shared the harrowing story about what you and your loved ones skilled. Are you able to discuss what you endured?
Tibon: I’m blissful that you simply missed the occasions as they had been taking place, as a result of it was a darkish day, actually the worst day within the historical past of the state of Israel. It’s Saturday, October 7. We’re in mattress, sleeping. I reside with my spouse and two younger daughters in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. It’s a small group, 500 folks, positioned straight on Israel’s border with Gaza. A wonderful place, very resilient, very brave folks, with a really robust sense of group and togetherness. But it surely’s Saturday, six within the morning, and we hear a really acquainted sound: the sound of a mortar about to blow up. It’s like a whistle.
My spouse, Miri, instantly pushes me. We run from our bed room to what we name the protected room. In each home in our group and different communities alongside the border with Gaza, there’s a room that’s constructed of very robust concrete that may stand up to a direct hit from a mortar or a rocket. And in most households, that’s the place they put the youngsters to sleep each night time. So we run to the protected room the place our two daughters are: Galia is three and a half years previous; Carmel is one and a half years previous.
They don’t know that something is going on. We shut the door and we wait. I imply, that is one thing we’re accustomed to. While you reside on the border with Gaza, assaults like this occur once in a while. You wait generally an hour, you pack your luggage in the meantime, and when there’s a break of some minutes, you simply shove the youngsters within the automotive and also you go away from the border towards a safer place.
However this time as we had been packing, I heard probably the most chilling noise I’ve heard in my life. Automated gunfire within the distance. First I’m listening to this gunfire from the fields. However then I hear it from the highway, then I hear it from the neighborhood, after which I hear it exterior my window. I’m within the room with my spouse and I hear the gunfire straight exterior my window, in addition to shouting. I perceive Arabic. I understood precisely what was taking place: that Hamas has infiltrated our kibbutz, that there are terrorists exterior my window, and that I’m locked in my home and inside my protected room with two younger ladies and I don’t know if anybody goes to return to avoid wasting us.
That’s the way it began.
Rosenberg: One factor for folks to grasp: Nahal Ozcould be very, very near the Gaza border. And that’s why you guys don’t have one thing like Iron Dome and why you’re within the protected room within the first place.
Tibon: Yeah, we’re so shut that Iron Dome, which is a tremendous invention that protects giant components of Israel from rocket hearth, shouldn’t be related in our space.
However I’ll inform you one thing. In a manner, the truth that they shot the mortars at our group earlier than they broke by the border saved lots of people’s lives, as a result of it brought about folks to run into the protected room. And this protected room, in the event you lock it correctly, could be very exhausting to open from the skin. Lots of people had been barricaded in these protected rooms for hours and generally a complete day. In numerous circumstances, the terrorists tried to interrupt in they usually couldn’t.
What occurred in our case was that we had been sitting there at nighttime. A couple of minutes after we acquired in and we heard this gunfire, the electrical energy stopped. We had no meals. We did have some water. And we’re telling our daughters: “You must be quiet now. You must be completely quiet. Not a phrase. You’ll be able to’t cry. Can’t speak. It’s harmful.” And my ladies had been absolute heroes. They waited silently at nighttime for 10 hours and they didn’t cry. They understood. Possibly that’s not the suitable phrase, however they felt that we had been lifeless critical about this. So we’re with them at nighttime, they usually’re utterly silent.
To start with, we nonetheless had cell reception. A short while later, there was no cell reception both. I texted my mother and father: “There are terrorists exterior.” We really thought they had been inside the home, as a result of they had been firing reside ammunition into our home and we heard it as if it’s inside. And we’re taking a look at our group textual content with our neighbors and everyone’s saying there are terrorists exterior my home or inside my home.
I referred to as a colleague and good friend, Amos Harel, the veteran military-affairs correspondent for Haaretz. I instructed him, “Amos, there are terrorists exterior my home, perhaps even inside.” And what Amos instructed me in reply was the scariest factor I heard. He stated, “Sure, I do know, but it surely’s not solely in your kibbutz; it’s not solely in Nahal Oz. It’s throughout southern Israel. It’s throughout. It’s in cities and in cities and in kibbutzim and in villages. Hundreds of armed Hamas fighters have infiltrated the nation. They’ve taken over navy bases.” That was scary as a result of I noticed that if that’s the scenario, it’ll take a really very long time for the navy to return and confront these terrorists and save us.
Rosenberg: May you speak to you about how we acquired thus far?
Tibon: Sure, I wish to say one thing about this failure of the navy and of the federal government. Miri and I moved to this group in 2014, instantly after the struggle that came about that summer time between Israel and Hamas, the 2014 Israel-Gaza struggle. We had been dwelling on the time in Tel Aviv, a younger couple with no kids. And the communities on the Gaza border throughout that struggle suffered from Hamas’s use of assault tunnels into Israel. They mainly dug tunnels underneath the border. The fighters would emerge from underground on the opposite facet, they usually killed and kidnapped troopers. The scariest factor again then had been the tunnels. We got here initially to help the group, and we fell in love with the place and determined to remain there.
However successive Israeli governments, all of them led by Benjamin Netanyahu, invested billions of {dollars}—I believe a few of them really from U.S. help—in developing an underground wall to forestall Hamas from utilizing these tunnels once more. This was a significant infrastructure undertaking for the state of Israel. And that undertaking allowed us to sleep at night time, as a result of you may cope with rockets falling over your head if in case you have a protected room in your home, but when terrorists are infiltrating underground they usually can stroll into your group, that’s a recreation changer. And so the explanation we may reside there, and that’s true for everybody, is due to this underground wall that Israel constructed. And within the morning hours of Saturday, October 7, once we heard the gunfire exterior our window, we realized that this undertaking is an utter and full failure.
Israel invested a lot in it, and what did the Hamas folks do? They took just a few tractors and SUVs, they usually ran over the border fence. We ready all the things to make it unattainable for them to return from underground, they usually simply walked by the border. That may be a main, main failure. And so bringing myself again to the dialog with Amos Harel, after I realized that that is the scenario throughout, that’s after I thought: Okay, we’re going to die right here. No person’s going to have the ability to are available in time. And in the event that they handle to interrupt into the home, they are going to then attempt to break into the protected room. And in the event that they handle to try this, we will probably be lifeless or kidnapped.
Rosenberg: How did you finally get out?
Tibon: I referred to as Amos, however I additionally referred to as my father. My father is a retired basic. He’s 62 years previous. He lives in Tel Aviv. And my mother and father instructed me: “We’re coming. It’s an hour-and-20-minute drive.” Now, this goes towards all logic. However I instructed myself, Okay, proper now I’m asking my two younger daughters to place full religion in me and my spouse, of their mother and father, to do what we’re telling them with a purpose to save their lives, which is to be very, very quiet and perceive that we can not get out of the room, we can not go get meals, we can not go to the toilet, we can not exit to play, and I’m asking them to place their religion in me utterly.
And I instructed myself: I’ve to do the identical factor proper now. I’ve to belief my father, who’s a reliable man, that if he stated he’ll come right here and save us, he’ll do it. Solely many hours later, when my father arrived, did I be taught what had occurred that day to my mother and father, which is an unbelievable story by itself.
My mother and father began driving from Tel Aviv. They arrived within the city of Sderot, which is the biggest city within the border space. Once they get there, they see folks strolling barefoot on the highway. These are survivors from a music competition close by, the place the Hamas folks got here early within the morning and massacred greater than 200 folks, individuals who got here to a music competition. My mother and father put the survivors of their automotive and took them farther away from the border. They’d already gotten to the border space, however they’re seeing individuals who need assistance, so that they take them away. After which they flip round they usually proceed driving towards our space.
They cease in a close-by group that’s near the border, however not as shut as we’re. And my father convinces a soldier who’s standing there and on the lookout for a manner to assist to return with him to Nahal Oz, to my kibbutz, with a purpose to kill terrorists and save households. They drive towards the kibbutz, however alongside the way in which they see a navy drive being ambushed by Hamas fighters. They get out of the automotive. My father is retired; he doesn’t have military-grade weapons. In Israel, not like in America, residents can not purchase AR-15s, and I’m glad for that. However my father has a pistol with him, and he and this different soldier be a part of the troopers who’re combating the Hamas cell, they assist kill them, and now they’re very near my kibbutz. They’re 5 minutes from the doorway to my kibbutz, however two of the troopers are wounded. And once more, my father has to show round. He places the wounded troopers in his automotive with the assistance of that different soldier who joined him, they usually return to the place my mom is.
My mother takes the wounded troopers along with her of their automotive to a hospital. My father sees one other retired former basic, Israel Ziv, who’s nearer to 70 than 60. However Israel placed on his uniform and got here like a daily soldier down south to attempt to assist. My father tells him, “Israel, I don’t have a automotive. My spouse is taking the wounded troopers to the hospital to avoid wasting them. I must get to Nahal Oz, the place my household is barricaded. My granddaughters are there. Take me to Nahal Oz.”
These two guys over the age of 60 are driving in a daily automotive. It’s not even a Jeep or one thing. It’s not an armored automobile. It’s only a automotive, like folks tackle the New Jersey Turnpike on their approach to work within the morning. They’re driving now on the highway the place half an hour earlier there was a lethal ambush of troopers. They each have weapons. My father took weapons from the wounded troopers, who gave them to him as a result of he instructed them, “I’m going again in.”
They reached the doorway to the kibbutz. And once they get there, they meet a gaggle of troopers from particular forces who’re about to start the very harmful strategy of going from home to deal with in our group to attempt to have interaction the terrorists and launch the people who find themselves barricaded. By that time, I don’t know that every one of that is taking place. We’re within the protected room. The terrorists are nonetheless exterior. And now we have no cell reception. We’ve got no telephone battery. We’re simply ready at nighttime.
However we begin listening to gunfire once more—and this time, it’s two sorts of weapons. And we understand there’s a battle. We understand that there’s an change of fireplace. And I inform my spouse: “He’s coming. My father is coming. They’re combating. He’s with these troopers.” They didn’t come instantly to our home. They went from home to deal with, neighborhood to neighborhood, inside our group. I don’t keep in mind how lengthy it took.
We had been simply listening to the gunfire getting nearer and nearer. The ladies had fallen asleep, however now they wakened. I believe it’s 2 p.m. They haven’t had something to eat since final night time. There’s no gentle and we don’t have cellphones anymore, so we are able to’t even present them our faces, and there’s one sentence that’s maintaining them from falling aside and beginning to cry—I’m telling them: “Grandfather is coming.”
I inform them, “If we keep quiet, your grandfather will come and get us out of right here.” And at 4 p.m., after 10 hours like this, we hear a big bang on the window and we hear the voice of my father. Galia, my oldest daughter, says, “Saba higea.” Grandfather is right here. And that’s once we all simply begin crying. And that’s once we knew that we had been protected.
Rosenberg: I wish to transfer from the private to the political a bit of bit. You’re employed for a Tel Aviv–primarily based liberal newspaper. Most individuals assume you reside in Tel Aviv, however you don’t. You moved to Nahal Oz, and also you instructed me you had been impressed to go there after you first visited it as a journalist, following one other conflict with Gaza, throughout which the group had been rocketed many times. And but, you met folks there who had been Israeli patriots nonetheless dedicated to the place and to peace and who needed to seek out one thing higher, though they maybe had extra cause than anybody to mistrust the long run. I do know you share that religion, however I’m questioning the way it feels proper now. Is that religion ever shaken?
Tibon: The politics of our space, of the Gaza-border space, could be very fascinating, and it’s a microcosm of politics in Israel. The kibbutz communities, like mine, are very left-leaning. And the massive city within the space, Sderot, which additionally went by a horrible, horrible catastrophe, is definitely way more right-wing and non secular and supportive of Netanyahu. So there’s this cut up. However we’re on this collectively. It’s true that there’s this divide, however we’re each affected by these identical situations proper now. And I believe lots of people are going to reexamine all the things as soon as it’s over.
I really like my group. I really like my neighbors. I’m happy with them for his or her resilience on this horrible day. What we went by shouldn’t be a novel story. That is the story of a complete area in Israel.
I’m ashamed of my authorities. We had a contract with the state that communities like ours shield the border. Because of this folks reside there. We shield the border with our presence there. This can be a basic technique of the state of Israel for the reason that earliest days of the nation, {that a} border that doesn’t have civilian communities and civilian life alongside it won’t be correctly protected.
We stored our a part of the contract. We lived on the border. We went by tough conditions generally, with mortars and with using incendiary units to set fires within the fields. If you happen to reside in a spot like Nahal Oz, you get up each morning and you already know there are folks on the opposite facet of the border who wish to kill you and your kids. And so the contract was: We shield the border and the state protects us.
And this authorities, which is the worst authorities within the historical past of the state of Israel, led by a corrupt, dysfunctional, and egoistic man who sees solely himself—Benjamin Netanyahu—failed us. There have been warning indicators that this may occur. The navy and the intelligence businesses warned that Israel’s neighbors had been seeing the interior divide within the nation over the federal government’s disastrous plan to remove the powers of the judiciary. There are stories popping out as we converse that Egyptian intelligence warned Netanyahu just a few days in the past that Hamas was planning one thing large on the border.
The best way that the occasions of the day unfolded is the worst failure within the historical past of the state of Israel. I imply, folks like my father, like Israel Ziv and different retired officers, needed to come down to avoid wasting residents, to attempt to save their very own households and others. In the meantime, the navy is falling aside, and all of the civilian infrastructure that’s alleged to help the navy and society in such an occasion can be not functioning.
Pay attention, proper now now we have to win this struggle. We’ve got to destroy Hamas. We’ve got to make it unattainable for them to ever, ever once more conduct something that’s even near what occurred on Saturday. No nation on this planet can permit one thing like this to occur to its residents and simply return to enterprise as ordinary. I really feel very unhealthy for the folks of Gaza. I’m heartbroken. However this was our 9/11.
After we win the struggle and we eradicate Hamas, there will probably be time additionally to throw into the dustbin of historical past any politician, beginning with the prime minister, who had something to do with this failure. However that’s a dialog for tomorrow. Right this moment it’s about saving our residents and destroying the enemy’s capacity to do one thing like this ever once more.
Rosenberg: Tomorrow, what occurs to Netanyahu?
Tibon: To start with, now we have to win the struggle. That is crucial factor. After the struggle, I consider the individuals who went right down to combat and to rescue their households, and the individuals who have family members kidnapped inside Gaza, and the individuals who misplaced their houses—these folks won’t permit this authorities to remain yet another day. The protests that Israel noticed within the final 12 months are going to be a kids’s recreation in comparison with the anger of the general public after this. However proper now, it’s about profitable the struggle.
Rosenberg: This isn’t over. That is ongoing. There are folks held hostage. What do you anticipate now from the U.S. and the world?
Tibon: To start with, I used to be relieved to see the very, very robust dedication of President Biden, verbally but additionally in motion, in sending U.S. navy forces to the area and making clear that if another actor within the area is confused, the US will help Israel if somebody is making an attempt to make use of this second of disaster within the improper manner.
There’s the problem of the Israelis who’re kidnapped, a few of whom are twin residents of different international locations. And on this, as somebody who covers diplomacy, I believe the language actually issues. You’ll be able to say “Hamas is liable for their destiny.” That’s, you already know, the standard diplo-speak. However the sentence I hope to listen to from international locations, together with the US but additionally others, is: “We anticipate their quick launch.”
These are residents, okay? Nearly all of them will not be troopers. There are a lot of girls there. There are kids, there are aged folks. And I believe the worldwide place must be that they have to be instantly launched. That is what I hope to listen to.
