Supernova festival

Finally free: Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv

Noa Argamani

Saturday June 8 is the birthday of Noa Argamani’s father, Yaakov Argamani. The only thing Yaakov wished for this year was his only daughter, Noa, back. His wife, Liora, is terminally ill with a brain tumor. Her last wish is to see her daughter Noa again.

Their beautiful daughter was violently abducted from the Supernova festival. The entire world saw the footage of her being dragged on to a motorcycle, crying and begging for her life, stretching out her arms to her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who was also being kidnapped.

Yaakov and Liora were afraid they would never see their only child again. But yesterday, on Yaakov’s birthday, their dearest wish was fulfilled: Noa was freed from Hamas captivity and brought back to Israel, where she reunited with her father and then immediately was brought to the hospital to embrace her dying mother.

I cannot describe the incredible joy and relief we all felt yesterday, seeing the images of Noa in the helicopter, being hugged and kissed by her father, speaking on the phone with the president, and setting off to the hospital to see her mother. The meeting with her mother was private, as it should be.

I could not stop crying, Noa is the cousin of a friend of mine. If I wished for anything, it was for Noa to come back home. Noa is Yaakov and Liora’s only child. And Liora’s illness made it all so much more heartbreaking. So many tears we shed for them, and now we are finally crying happy tears! 🧡

And Noa was not to only one to be freed. The IDF carried out a very risky operation which destroyed a building in the town Nuseirat in central Gaza, and which killed many Gazans. This is desperately sad and I wish it hadn’t happened.

But Hamas knew this would happen, and they put the hostages there anyway. They knew we would stop at nothing to free the hostages, and they still chose to hide them among the people. Hamas knows we will do ANYTHING to bring them back home. They intentionally endanger their own people, just to make Israel look bad. All of this could have been avoided if they had just given us back the hostages. And why? Why did they invade our country, murder thousands and then abduct hundreds? All of this suffering and pain on both sides could have been avoided if they had not chosen to attack us. And civilians are complicit in this. Civilians stole Noa. I hope the men in that video, the ones who laughed as she begged for her life, now paid the price.

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Almog Meir Jan

Almog Meir Jan is 21 years old and was kidnapped from the Supernova festival. He was seen in footage, handcuffed, cowering and terrified.

Almog had just finished his army duty and was due to start his first job on October 8. The company has promised to keep the position open for him. According to his mother, Orit, he is very family-oriented and is close with his mother, his sister and uncle. He helps take care of his grandparents and has many friends. Almog called his mother from the party, telling her he loved her, before he was captured.

On Saturday, he was finally freed and reunited with his mother, family and friends. He asked them if they had seen the hostage video of him, but they hadn’t. Nobody had. Hamas had recorded a hostage video of him, of course saying what they told him to say, but had never released it, so no one knew and no one saw that precious sign of life. But now he is back, safe and well!

In a strange and sad twist, Almog’s father is reported to have died in his home the same Saturday. There is no news yet of how he died and whether he knew his son had been freed. I hope so much that he knew. But if he didn’t, I am sure that he knows now. 🦋

—

Andrey Kozlov

Andrey Kozlov, 27, is a Russian-Israeli who worked as a security guard at the Supernova music festival. The Russian government called for his release along with other Russian hostages:

“The Russian side stressed the need for the immediate release of civilians, including three Russian nationals, Andrey Kozlov, Alexander Lobanov, and Alexander Trufanov, who were kidnapped in the October 7, 2023 attacks and have been held by Palestinian groups ever since.” (From: the Jerusalem Post.)

But that didn’t happen. From the Times of Israel: “Three Russian citizens — Ron Krivoy, Irina Tatty and Elena Trufanova — were previously released. Alexander Trufanov and Alexander Lobanov remain in captivity.”

Andrey had immigrated to Israel only a year and a half before October 7, 2023. He was still learning Hebrew. After his release, he said that he continued learning Hebrew and practiced with the other hostages while in captivity. His parents flew out from Russia as soon as they could and his girlfriend, Jennifer Master, was waiting for him. They had been tirelessly lobbying for his release, both in Israel and in Russia. You’re a hero to us, Andrey!

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Shlomi Ziv

Shlomi Ziv is 41 years old and studied interior design. He was at the Supernova festival working as a security guard, as a favour to his friends, Aviv Eliyahu and Jake Marlowe. Eliyahu and Marlowe were both killed at the site. Shlomi was listed as missing.

Shlomi is married to Miran. They have been together for 17 years. Miran told Ynet: “We’ve been through so much – [fertility ] treatments, a difficult miscarriage, more treatments. (…) It was just the two of us, Shlomi and me, so we are also so connected. The treatments only strengthened us; it didn’t break us apart like it had happened to other couples. We are each other’s world.”

When the attack started at the festival, Shlomi opened the gates so people could flee. He called his two younger sisters, Adi and Revital, and tried to tell them what was going on, while running himself. He told them he would call back. But he never did. Eight days later, he was officially listed as a hostage.

Shlomi’s wife, mother, sisters and cousin worked tirelessly for his release. His cousin, Liat Ariel, created something extraordinary called Shlomi’s glasses, a virtual reality tool that shows people an 8 minute movie simulating the experience of being kidnapped and held hostage in Gaza.

Many people have tried on the glasses, including politicians and journalists. Liat Ariel told JNS news: “I decided to create “Shlomi’s glasses” to show the world what it’s like to be at a festival similar to Burning Man in America or others in Europe and find yourself under attack.”

Then, on June 8, Shlomi was rescued. Finally, after 8 months, he could embrace his wife, his parents, his sisters and his cousin again.

About his time in Gaza, Shlomi said that he knew nothing of what was going on on the outside. He was held with other hostages and they passed the time talking and playing games. He didn’t know his two friends, Aviv and Jake, were dead. His family says he lost a lot of weight but is in good condition.

Welcome home, Shlomi, we are so happy to have you back! 🧡

—

Arnon Zmora

These days, good news never seems to be possible without bad news, too. In the operation to free the hostages, Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora, 36, was killed by terrorist fire.

According to the Times of Israel: “On October 7, Zmora himself had led a battle against Hamas near the border community of Yad Mordechai, killing dozens of terrorists and preventing them from infiltrating the kibbutz. After that battle, Zmora was also involved in fighting terrorists at the Nahal Oz base and at Kibbutz Be’eri.”

This man seems to have been a fearless powerhouse who saved countless lives. He is survived by his parents and siblings, his wife and two children. His wife Michal wrote on Facebook:

“Now, everything is filled with the image of the late hero Arnon Zmora. But long before he was a warrior and a hero he was a sweet and charming man. A wonderful partner, a perfect father. A loving and beloved man. This is how we will remember him, and we hope you will too.”

The operation was renamed “Operation Arnon” in his memory. At his funeral, thousands paid tribute. Fly free, Arnon, and thank you for everything you did for us. 🧡🦋

In memory of Shani Louk and Orion Hernandez Radoux

A lot has happened in the last few months. Rabid rioting students taking over campuses around the world. Israel being brought to the international court of justice on unfounded genocide charges fueled by hate. Arrest warrants being put out for Netanyahu, while none have been put out for Hamas. We see the left bowing down to Islamic antisemitism, afraid of being called bigots, racists and Islamophobes. And at the same time, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and even Iran keep firing insane numbers of missiles towards Israel. No news channel shows it, but this is our reality.

Leftwing politicians, media, college professors and Islamists are united in their hatred for Israel. Being European, university-educated and a translator, I see more of this than many of my fellow Israelis do. I feel like I am drowning in a tidal wave of vicious international fury. Do we even have the right to exist anymore? Not according to many protesters. We should “go back to where we came from”.

They have no idea that for the majority of Israelis, this is an unhinged and impossible demand. Ethiopian Jews should go back to Africa, where they faced starvation and persecution? Mizrachi Jews should go back to Iraq, Iran and Yemen? The idea of millions of Jews marching back into the very states they had to flee from is absurd. None of them would be left alive. And even Ashkenazi Jews like my in-laws, who have lived here for four generations now after fleeing Nazi Germany. Do people really think my 79 year old father in law, who was born in Israel, has a Polish passport somewhere? It is all so ridiculous that it makes my blood boil.

And still, to many people around the world, this is a totally reasonable ask. We are evil colonizers genociding the indigenous population, and we should be wiped out. And these are the same people whining about the “trans genocide” and about being misgendered every second day. The absurdity of it all would be laughable, if it wasn’t so very bleak and worrying.

“Keffiyeh Keren” Johanna King-Slutzky, with her Queers for Palestine sidekicks.

All of this is fuelling my anxiety and my fury. How dare they. How DARE they. But the worst, the most evil stab in our collective heart, the lowest of low blows, was this:

The “photojournalist” who took this sickening picture of Shani Louk’s body being abused and dragged to Gaza, was lauded and praised as a prizewinner. Oh yes, the very same Gazan journalists who rode along with Hamas and documented the massacre, probably enjoying the sight, are hailed as artists and professionals by the international community. Such professionalism! Such noble dedication! We must award these courageous freedom fighters with press prizes! Just to make it absolutely clear that we don’t care in the slightest about the violated, lifeless young woman in the back of that truck. We don’t give a damn about the agony of her family, about the pain of an entire nation. We don’t care about exposing her, exploiting her cruel death, and tainting her memory forever. All we care about is bowing down to the altar of the noble freedom fighting terrorists, I mean journalists.

Please excuse me for going slightly off the rails here. But you can see how strongly I feel about this disgrace, this injustice. So imagine how Shani’s family feels. I will show you what they said:

Shani’s grandmother asks us to remember her granddaughter this way:

And we will. We will forever remember Shani the way she was: vibrant, full of life, loving, dancing, happy and quirky. This beautiful, unique girl who we all got to know only after her death. She touches something deeply inside our hearts.

Shani was a tattoo artist. I decided to get this tattoo to honour her. And to remember not only Shani, but all the others we lost, who are all equally precious. I imagine them all rising up to heaven as butterflies, dancing free, all different and unique.

You can find Shani Louk’s tattoo website here:

https://shaniloukink.com/

Her family memorialized the site and invite people to get one of Shani’s designs tattoed. They are beautiful and intricate and I intend to get one of them, too.

After many weeks of being held back by the international community who seems hell-bent on protecting Hamas, the IDF finally had enough. After many stalled and drawn-out agreement negotiations, it became clear once more that you cannot negatiate with terrorists. The IDF attacked and forced their way into Rafah. And what did they find? The dead bodies of hostages.

It seems that every few days, more hostages are found dead. Most of them seem to have been killed on October 7 and their bodies abducted to Gaza. They are found left behind in hospitals, buried beneath the floors of civilian houses and thrown in underground tunnels.

And so, at last, Shani Louk’s body has been found and returned to her family.

She has now been laid to rest. I hope her soul is now finally free and at peace. 🦋

—

Shani is not the only one whose body was found. They all deserve their stories to be told, so I will do that in later posts. Until now, the people who were found are:

Amit Buskila, 28.

Itzik Gelernter, 58.

Ron Benjamin, 53.

Sonthaya Oakkharasri.

Sudthisak Rinthalak.

Hanan Yablonka, 42.

Michel Nisenbaum, 59.

And Orion Hernandez Radoux, 30.

Yes, that’s right. The body of Shani’s Mexican boyfriend Orion was found. He was thought to stil be alive. Apparently, he was killed on October 7 along with Shani and so many others. What a terrible blow for his family. And what a cruel, cruel thing to do by Hamas, to have kept them in the dark for seven months, not knowing wether he was alive or dead.

Orion leaves behind a three year old daughter. We will keep his memory alive, just like Shani’s. We will remember them the way they were: full of life and energy. 🦋🦋

Update 26/04/2024: Hersh Goldberg-Polin

On Wednesday April 24, 2024, more than 200 days after October 7, 2023, Hamas released a video of one of the hostages: 23-year old American Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

It was the first sign of life from Hersh since the horrific video of October 7, when we had to watch him climb into the back of a pickup truck, covered in blood and missing his left hand.

The video released last Wednesday shows Hersh looking pale, thin and frightened. He blames the Israeli government for not securing a deal with Hamas, for letting many of the hostages die and for making them suffer. He tells Netanyahu to go home and hand over the keys of the government. He shows his amputated left hand, which was blown off by a hand grenade on October 7.

It is hard to put to words what I felt when I saw this video. I cannot imagine how his parents, Rachel and John Goldberg-Polin, are feeling. Relief, because he is alive. Pain, because he is very clearly suffering. Hope, because he might come home. And fear, because he might not.

Rachel, who has been fighting tirelessly for the release of her son and the other hostages, told the Israeli media:

“We were extremely overwhelmed. We were both crying. And just seeing him, I think I kept saying, poor boy, poor boy, poor boy.”

This is the video released by Hamas. The only full screening I could find was on the Times of India YouTube channel:

It is important to realize that Hersh is not saying his own thoughts, he is reading off a rehearsed script that Hamas had given him. It is easy to see in his eyes that he is terrified.

The reason there is no hostage deal is because Hamas refuses to accept any offer. They have turned down four offers up until now, the last time was on April 14. It is not because of Netanyahu that there is no hostage deal.

The main problem is that Hamas demands an immediate, permanent end to the war. The Israeli government is not willing to leave Gaza without conquering the last remaining Hamas stronghold: Rafah. This is where the hostages are thought to be held.

Hamas also demands the release of all Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons. Many of these are dangerous criminals and terrorists.

I don’t know what the right thing to do is. On the one hand, we all desperately want to see the hostages return home to their families. But to give up on eradicating Hamas? This sounds terrifying. They will just resume their reign of terror in Gaza. The Gazan people are traumatized and hate Israel a thousand times more than before. The entire world hates Israel a thousand times more than before. They will attack again one day, and again, and again. We must make sure a massacre like October 7 can NEVER happen again.

So, I don’t have the answers. I don’t make the decisions. I wait and hope, as I did before. And I pray that Hersh and the others will make it home.

#bring_hersh_home

The abduction of Hersh Goldberg-Polin

Hersh Goldberg-Polin is a happy, energetic, sociable young man of 23 years old. He enjoyed life and had many plans for the future. He was supposed to leave on a two-year trip travelling the world on December 27, 2023. But in the first weekend of October, he decided to go to a music festival in the desert with his friends. That decision would turn his life in a completely different, terrifying direction.

Jonathan Polin and Rachel Goldberg are both from Chicago. They moved to Israel in 2008 with their three young children: Hersh, the oldest, and his two sisters, Libi and Orly. They settled in Jerusalem. Hersh was a gentle and sensitive boy, who loved reading (mostly in English), football and travelling. At first, he struggled with the new language and the unfamiliar surroundings, but after about a year, he found his place in Israel. He made friends, joined a soccer team and learned to read in Hebrew.

When Hersh grew up, he discovered dance parties and travel. He often went to raves with friends and visited parties in different European countries. He loved travelling and seeing new places. Like so many young people, he wanted to see the world and go on adventures. He worked as a waiter and a medic to save money for his ticket to India, on December 27.

On Friday, October 6, Hersh spent the evening with his family and they had dinner and welcomed the Shabbath together. Afterwards, he went out with his friend, Aner Shapira. He told his parents he was going to do “something fun”, but they didn’t know what yet. Jonathan and Rachel said goodbye to their son and went to bed. Early the next morning, they were woken up by sirens and rocket fire. They went to their safe room and waited, confused and worried about what was happening. Then Rachel got two messages from her son: “I love you guys” and “I’m sorry”.

Hersh and Aner had gone to the Supernova music festival the night before. They had danced through the night and enjoyed themselves. But at 6:30 in the morning, the party turned into a nightmare. Terrorists on paragliders landed in the middle of the crowd and started shooting. Others drove in with cars and motorcycles. People screamed, gunshots rang out and the battlecry “Allahu akhbar!!” was heard, over and over again, repeated with every shot.

Hersh and Aner ran for their lives and managed to reach a bomb shelter. They hid inside with 27 other people, crammed into the small space.

But Hamas found them. The terrorists threw a number of handgrenades into the crowded bomb shelter. Aner Shapira, Hersh’s friend, caught the grenades one by one and threw them out again. The eighth one exploded in his hand and killed him instantly. Another few grenades were thrown in, exploded and killed eighteen people in that shelter. Seven people survived, hidden under the bodies, and later told the story.

A video posted by Hamas later showed us exactly what happened. Four young men in the shelter were alive but exposed. The terrorists came in and ordered them to leave the shelter at gunpoint, and to climb into a truck. Their cameras show Hersh getting up, dazed but calm, covered in blood. His left arm is missing, blown off at the elbow.

He manages to climb into the truck with the others. Another video shows the truck with the hostages arriving in Gaza, and it shows that Hersh had a tourniquet around his left arm.

Since then, nothing was heard from or about Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Released hostages say they haven’t seen him. He is assumed to be a hostage, but it is possible that he didn’t survive his injury.

Aner Shapiro, 22 years old, was dead. He was honoured as a hero by those who survived the massacre inside that bomb shelter. They said he had immediately told everyone: “I’m a fighter in the Nahal brigade, I will protect you.” He stood in the doorway of the shelter and caught the grenades as the terrorists threw them. Until one of them exploded in his hands. He showed incredible bravery in the face of terror and evil, to protect others. The seven who survived, owe him their lives.

Jonathan and Rachel Goldberg-Polin were beside themselves with worry and fear for their son, and they immediately jumped into action. Rachel has become the face of mothers trying to save their children from captivity in Gaza. She has given up her job as a teacher to work fulltime for the release of the hostages. She and Jonathan set up an office to help the families of hostages, staffed with a press agent, a social media expert and many volunteers. They travelled to the USA and spoke to the crowd at a march in Washington DC. Rachel spoke twice at the UN headquarters in Geneva. She met with presidents and prime ministers and even travelled to the Vatican to meet the Pope.

Rachel hardly sleeps anymore. She wakes up at 4 AM from a drug-induced sleep, and starts working on social media, publicity and prayers. Every day, she writes the number of days that her son has been missing on a piece of tape and sticks it on her shirt, over her heart. She refuses to eat more than a little each day, because from the stories of released hostages, she knows that her son gets very little food.

Since October 7, Rachel runs on anxiety and adrenaline. She fights and prays, breaks down and cries, then picks herself up again and continues fighting, speaking out and doing every single thing she can think of to help her son. She and Jonathan have heard nothing, no news at all about Hersh. They don’t know if he got medical treatment for his injuries. They don’t know if he is being mistreated by terrorists and spends his days in the tunnels or if he is being held in a civilian home. They don’t even know if he is alive or dead.

Rachel’s speech at the rally in Washington DC was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen. The pure energy coming from this small, frail woman is awe-inspiring. I can only show you, so you can see for yourself:

Her cry of “Why??” goes straight through my heart. Why, indeed? Why did this horror have to happen? What good has this done for anyone, Palestinian or Israeli or anyone else?

I have deep respect and admiration for Rachel. What she does is incredible. She is truly a lioness. I also feel desperately sad for her. The pain she and her family are going through is unimaginable.

All I can do is hope and pray that Hersh is alive, that he is ok and that he will come home. Soon. And all this terrible torture can end. As I write this, Israel’s army is standing by the gates of Rafah. The world is pressuring us to give up the fight and not enter Rafah. But how can we? How can we leave Hersh, and all the others, to their fate in Gaza?

We know from Avera Mengistu and many others, that Hamas does not release hostages and prefers to kill themselves and all their people before they give us back what we want: our loved ones.

#bringthemhome

#bring_hersh_home

Erick and Ruth Peretz – together as one

The massacre at Supernova is one huge, terrible chain of demonic cruelty and horror. I have heard fragments of stories that I cannot repeat. They are lodged in my brain like shards of glass. I can’t examine them, at least not yet. Maybe one day, I will be able to do that research and get those sharp slivers out. Let the cut me until it bleeds. Sadistic torture and brutality. Sexual violence so awful and extreme that it makes you sick. It speaks of a group of people so depraved, so full of hate, with so much disdain for human life, that they would commit these crimes while laughing and filming themselves. It is inconceivable.

This monstrous group shot entire families with young children execution style. They burned down houses with babies inside. They murdered 90 year old Holocaust survivors in cold blood. They killed dogs defending their homes and laughed about it. They shot unarmed young people fleeing for their lives. And they killed a severely handicapped child in a wheelchair without a moment’s hesitation.

Erick and Ruth Peretz were a familiar sight at raves and music festivals in Israel. Ruth Peretz was 16 years old and suffered from cerebral palsy, muscular atrophy and mental disability. But that didn’t stop her from living her life to the fullest. Although she didn’t have much control over her body, Ruth loved music and dancing. So her dad, Erick, took her to parties whenever he could.

Erick was a happy-go-lucky man who loved surfing and dedicated his life to the care of his daughter. Ruth’s half-sister, Yaarit, told Ynet: “For years he would go to these festivals and bring Ruth, because it made her really happy and she loved it. There were times he would take her and she didn’t want to come home. It was their tradition, to go to festivals.”

Ruth was mostly nonverbal and could speak only a few words. Only her family knew how to communicate with her. From the moment she was born, Erick dedicated his life to her care. He stopped working and became her fulltime carer. Her older sister Yamit says: “Over the years, Ruth became the light in the house. My father took me by the hand and taught me how to hang out with Ruth. We were constantly at parties and at the beach. We were together all the time. My Bat Mitzvah trip was to festivals around the world.” (Shavvim.co.il)

On October 7, Ruth and Erick were at the Supernova festival. They had been there for several days, camping out with all Ruth’s equipment. Yamit had been there with them the previous day, but left that evening. Erick and Ruth enjoyed themselves so much that they decided to stay the night. Early the next morning, Yamit and her half-sister, Yaarit, realized what was happening in the south of the country, and they called Erick in a panic. At that time, Erick and Ruth were ok and trying to get out of the site of the festival. “Everything is ok, I’m with security,” Erick told his daughters.

But that would be the last time Yamit and Yaarit heard their father’s voice. A friend of Erick’s, who was also at Supernova, posted later on Facebook, telling the story of the last moments of Erick and Ruth’s lives:

“About eight in the morning, Erick Peretz calls me over with a smile and invites me to have coffee with him. Come on, have fun, brother. His daughter Ruth is in the car with her phone, on YouTube. I start making the coffee in the back of the van. While we’re drinking coffee and laughing, at around eight-thirty, suddenly people are shooting at us. Erick’s car got hit by a bullet. I scream at him, “Get out of here!” He gets into the car and drives off with Ruth, and I run in the opposite direction, leaving everything behind. My brother calls me, I run to him, get in the car. We drive but we get stuck. Erick also gets stuck in the car because everything is blocked. We get out of the car. Erick takes Ruth and runs into the forest. I also started running towards the forest. While running I see people falling like bowling pins. I never saw Erick and Ruth again.” (Ynet)

For almost two weeks, Erick and Ruth’s fate was unknown. Their car and Ruth’s wheelchair were found at the site of Supernova, but there was no sign of the father and daughter. Their family was desperately worried. Ruth could not eat solid food and relied on tubefeeding. She would not survive in captivity.

Then, twelve days later, the burned and unrecognizable body of Erick Peretz was identified. In their grief, the family still had a sliver of hope that Ruth would be found alive. But Yamit was absolutely sure that her father and Ruth were together. She asked to delay the funeral of her father, to search the remains more carefully, to check if her little sister was with Erick. But the family didn’t agree to this, and Erick was buried.

Time went by, and a month later, Ruth still had not been found. It was impossible for her to still be alive after all this time. Yamit knew in her heart that Erick and Ruth were in that grave together. She said to Ynet: “I was a million percent sure that they were buried together. I had no doubt that they were together, from day one.”

In the end, Erick’s grave was opened and the contents were examined again. It turned out that Yamit was right. The remains were not only Erick’s, but Ruth’s as well. They had been burned and melted, twisted and entwined together. Yamit knew that her father would never have left her sister alone for even one second. If they were facing death, they would have faced it together.

The second funeral was for both father and daughter. The entire party scene grieved for these two beautiful, gentle souls, who wanted nothing in this world but to be together, camp out in nature and enjoy the music.

I don’t know what comes after death, but I hope Ruth and Erick are dancing and surfing. I hope they come to visit Yamit in her dreams, as she asked them to do at the funeral. I know that they are together, always, as they were in life.

Shani Louk – forever young

This is my YouTube video about Shani Louk. It’s the best performing video on my channel, with 42K views. I can only guess why that is. Is it because of the horrific footage and the famous, prize-winning (yes!) photo of the abuse and abduction of her lifeless body? Is it because of her arresting looks? Is it because of the universally terrifying idea of going to a hippy music festival and being brutally murdered by rabid terrorists? It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t monetize my content. All I want is for people to watch, or read, and know what we went through.

—

This beautiful, free spirit is Shani Louk. She is 22 years old and will stay 22 years old forever. She will not grow up, have children and experience everything life has to offer. Shani Louk was murdered on October 7, 2023, at the hands of crazed, bloodthirsty Hamas terrorists.

Shani was born on February 7, 2001, to an Israeli father and a German mother. The family lived in Israel, but often visited Shani’s grandparents in Germany. They lived for several years in Portland, Oregon, but eventually moved back to Israel.

Shani was artistic and loved travelling. She became a tattoo artist and travelled the world with her Mexican boyfriend, Orión Hernández Radoux. She was a convinced pacifist and refused to serve in the Israeli army. She was also very active on social media and had a lot of followers. Her instagram, which was full of ethereal photos of her, had more than 13,000 followers.

Shani lived in Tel Aviv and often went to raves and dance parties. On October 7, she and her boyfriend Orión were at the Supernova festival. There are several photos and videos of them dancing, laughing and having a great time.

Until all hell broke loose and many hundreds of Hamas terrorists flooded the party in a frenzied killing spree, hunting people down, bullets flying everywhere. Shani called friends on her phone, telling them to flee. She also called her mother, saying that she was trying to get to her car, to hide from the terrorists. After that, her phone went silent.

Hours later, the livestream of the terrorists’ video cameras showed a naked, seemingly unconscious woman in the bed of a pick-up truck, being paraded through the streets of Gaza City. Shani’s friends and family recognized the distinct tattoos and the long dreadlocks, and realized with horror that this was Shani Louk. They had to watch helplessly as terrorists spat on her, pulled her hair and screamed “Allahu akhbar!!”. There are stills from this footage, but I am not going to show them, as they are too shocking. The footage and the stills are easy to find on the internet, for whoever wants to see the full horror of what Hamas did to Shani Louk.

Initially, it was thought that Shani was still alive, that she had been taken hostage. But on October 30, almost a month after the attack, part of Shani’s skull was found at the site of the festival. A vital part, without which she could not possibly live. All hope was gone for Shani’s family. Although they did not have her body, they had to accept that she was dead. “It was like being kicked in the head,” Shani’s brother said.

Because part of her skull was found, rumours circulated on the internet that Shani had been beheaded. But it is more likely that she was shot in the head and died instantly. Fortunately, she escaped the fate of other women, who were gangraped, tortured and beheaded. Her family takes some comfort in the idea that she did not suffer.

And what about Shani’s boyfriend, Orión Hernández Radoux? Orión holds both Mexican and French nationality. He is not an Israeli, he came to Israel as a tourist, to be with Shani. He is 31 years old and has a little daughter. According to his friends, he is a man of music and festivals, of love and family, adventure and peace. Orión has been missing since the attack. There has been no news of him whatsoever. His body was not found, so he is presumed to be a hostage. But there is no evidence that he is alive.

However, after the 7th of October, a series of chilling messages were sent from his phone. It seems that Hamas terrorists got hold of his phone and used it to send messages in Arabic to his contacts. “I spit on you,” they read, “God damn you.” And “Liberate Palestine”, “kill the Zionists”. That is Hamas’ message to the world. Very sophisticated.

As I am writing this, the IDF is pushing into Gaza, searching for the hostages. I hope and pray that Orión will be found, alive, with the others. And that he is ok. But even if he is, he will be traumatized forever. I’m so sorry, Orión, that this had to happen to you.

#bringthemhome

Noa Argamani – abducted by civilians

This is Noa Argamani. She is 26 years old and studies engineering. She is the beloved only child of Israeli-born Yacov and Chinese-born Liora Argamani. Noa is close to all of our hearts because of her remarkable beauty, the terrifying video of her abduction and the heartbreaking story of her mother. She is also my friend’s cousin. I have to start with Noa, because to me, she embodies all that is good, and kind, and beautiful. All that was destroyed and torn away from us by Hamas.

Noa was at a party that day, with her boyfriend Avinatan Or. They went to a music festival called Supernova, in the Negev desert. They sang and danced, laughed and enjoyed themselves with friends. Until suddenly, the music stopped, the sirens started wailing and hell broke open, spewing out masked men with guns, on motorcycles and in jeeps, driving into the crowd at full speed, shooting at everyone they saw, screaming “Allahu akhbar!!”

Panicked people fled in all directions. The masked men chased after them and emptied their weapons at them, shooting innocent, unarmed young people in the back. Noa and Avinatan ran for their lives, terrified and in shock.

But the terrorists caught up with them. Five, ten men jumped at Noa and Avinatan. Two men pulled Noa on a motorcycle, while the others held Avinatan down. Noa cried and screamed: “No, no, don’t kill me!” But the kidnappers laughed at her and drove away with her. She stretched out her arms to Avinatan, who was being taken away by a group of men, and who could do nothing but stare after her in terror.

We have this footage because the terrorists filmed it and uploaded it on TikTok. Yes, they were proud of what they did. They were full of glee. They took pleasure in killing, torturing, raping and kidnapping unarmed young people at a music festival. The following pictures are stills from the footage.

This is the last anyone saw of Avinathan Or. He is presumed taken hostage. Noa was seen later on in Gaza in other footage, so she is known to be a hostage.

Noa’s parents, friends and family are beside themselves with worry. Noa’s mother, Liora, is suffering from terminal brain cancer. She is afraid of dying without ever seeing her daughter again.

I didn’t know what true evil was, until I saw the footage and heard the stories of the supernova music festival. Now, I know what evil looks like. It is hundreds of bloodthirsty men, firing into a crowd, chasing fleeing people, laughing and shouting “Allahu akhbar!!” while grabbing, raping, murdering and abducting young girls.

At the moment I am writing this, two months after the “black shabbath” as we call it, a number of children and women have been released from captivity. But not Noa. Where are you, Noa? What are they doing to you? Are you alive, are you hurt, are you suffering? Our hearts are bound to you and to Avinatan, and to your parents. We pray that Liora will see her beloved daughter again before she leaves this world.

We love you, Noa and Avinatan. #bringthemhome.

Edit 3/1/24

It has come to light that the men who abducted Noa Argamani were not Hamas members. They were Gazan civilians who followed Hamas through the gates on October 7 and blazed a trail through Israel, looting, killing and raping. And abducting pretty young girls as trophies. If you watch the videos, it is clear. These men do not wear hoods and their faces are clearly visible. They do not carry automatic weapons and ammunition belts. It is absolutely sickening and enraging. Nobody knows where they’re hiding Noa and what they’re doing to her. But somebody must know these men. Someone knows who they are and where they are keeping Noa and the other girls who have not been returned.

Edit 17/1/24

On January 14, Noa appeared in a video released by Hamas, together with two other hostages: Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky. They were forced to say that Israel should stop the war or they would be killed. At the end of the video, Hamas gave us a nice little game, to guess who was going to be murdered that night.

Noa was the only one who survived this demonic game. My guess is the civilians who abducted her, sold her to Hamas. Hamas knows how famous and beloved Noa is. They use her as a pawn to force us to do what they want.

So Noa is alive, for now. God help her. 💔

October 7, 2023

YouTube: Stories of Israel – True Crime

I’m a true crime fan. I have followed the true crime community for years. The psychology behind the terrible stories is fascinating. What makes murderers and kidnappers tick? Why do they do what they do? What made them this way? And who were their victims? How do their loved ones deal with something so dark and awful?

Then, true crime happened to me.

This story was a letter that I wrote on November 7, 2023, exactly a month after the terrible, traumatic event that changed all of our lives forever. I sent this letter to all my favorite true crime podcasters and YouTubers, who I have watched and listened to for years. I have supported them, encouraged them, defended them and donated to them. Now, I felt like I needed them to support me.

None of them answered me or acknowledged my plea in any way. None of them expressed sympathy or addressed the living nightmare we have experienced and are still experiencing. Not one true crime YouTuber has told our horror stories. By now, I realize that they are not going to. So I decided to do it myself. This is the letter I sent to them.

—

I want to tell you a story. It is a very, very shocking and gruesome story. I will only tell you the outlines, because the details will give you nightmares forever. To me, this is true crime at its most horrific, most devastating and most… True. Every single word of this is true, and there is video evidence for all of it.

On October 7 of this year, the south of my country was invaded by thousands of terrorists. The attack came out of nowhere and we were all caught off guard. They drove in with trucks and cars and motorcycles, sailed in with boats over sea and even flew in with paragliders. The terrorists broke into people’s homes and murdered more than 1200 people. The victims were men and women, children and babies, elderly and disabled people. Many of them were tortured, mutilated, beheaded, or burned alive. Parents were brutally murdered in front of their children. Parents were made to watch as their children were killed. Their houses were then set ablaze. Many people died in the flames and were burned beyond recognition.

Other terrorists drove further into the country and came to a music festival, where many young people were dancing and enjoying themselves. They shot as many people as they could and grabbed and gangraped many of the young women, until they died, until their legs and pelvises were broken. The naked, lifeless bodies were then piled on trucks, some missing limbs or heads, and paraded around for everyone to see.

The terrorists then kidnapped living people. They pulled them into their cars and on motorcycles, and took those people with them. They abducted a total of 240 men, women and children, who have been held hostage for a month now, with very little signs of life.

I am of course talking about the massacre by Hamas in the south of Israel. Since that horrible day, we have all been living in hell. Our every waking and sleeping thought is of pain, fear and death. Time stood still for us on that day.

I am not asking you to take sides in the terrible war that followed this mass murder. The only thing I want from the true crime community is to acknowledge that what Hamas did to us was a crime. It was not an act of war. There was no war at that time. What they did was a deliberate and premeditated crime, with the goal of murdering and kidnapping as many Israelis as they could, while maximizing our suffering as much as possible. That was their only goal.

There is plenty of evidence for this. The terrorists wore cameras on their heads and recorded every horrific act they committed that day. They uploaded it on social media, proud of what they did. Much of the footage is freely accessible, although not all of it. Some of it is too gruesome to be shown to the general public. It has been compiled into a movie, that has been shown to journalists and news outlets around the world. Half of them were unable to stay in the room and finish watching. All of them came out shaking and feeling sick.

The people held hostage range in age from nine months to 86 years old. They are from a wide range of nationalities. They are Israeli, American, Thai, Filipino, Tanzanian, Argentinian, German, British… The list goes on. Their families do not sleep and cannot breathe. Their lives are hell.

What I want is for the international community to acknowledge that this was a terrible crime against the people of Israel, whether they were Jews, Muslims, Christians or otherwise. Hamas murdered without distinction. A lot of Israeli Arabs, Thai foreign workers and visitors were killed and captured as well as Jews.

The MeToo movement turns a blind eye to the violent rape of hundreds of Israeli women. The Red Cross and Unicef do nothing to secure the release of 30 children being held hostage, or to verify that severely wounded hostages receive medical care. Antisemitism has sprung up over the entire world. Jews feel threatened and unsafe everywhere. Jewish children are being kept home from school in Europe. Jewish college students in the USA are not going to class, for fear of being harassed.

I am powerless to stop any of this. But I have a voice. So I post, and I write. I want everyone to know what is happening. It feels to me as if history is coming full circle and repeating itself.

That is my story. I am fortunate to not have been affected personally and my family is safe. But friends and family of my friends have been murdered, abducted or killed in battle. We are traumatized, shocked, angry and afraid. And so very, very sad. I live for the day that the hostages will come back home. I pray that they are still alive.

Thank you for listening.