Israel – Life after the terror attacks | DW Documentary

Israel – Life after the terror attacks | DW Documentary

2 minutes later we got a message that the terrorists are in the kwoods this is absolutely insane and the messages I started reading were like they’re trying to break into my house they’re in my house they they’re they’re burning my house my brother was killed two weeks

Ago in the terror attack of Hamas next to Gaza my government failed in giving us security and safety to me and my brother and to all of the people living in Israel from humanitarian point I’m really worried about what’s happening in Gaza now I mean Israel is just bombing

Their people doesn’t explain us how it will help us to to achieve peace to achieve a better life for Us people ask me when real peace will come who am I to tell you what’s the right thing to do right now the question is bigger than Me my name is O I’m an Israeli filmmaker I live in mus a little village 30 km from the border with Gaza I live here with r my who’s 9 month pregnant and will Chapel or a dog since the terror attack on October 7th the chuk our whole

World in country things are not the same we still struggle to understand what happened and would like to show you around the world there are shelters everywhere um because we kind of do it in a way that we know every time in every place we get to what’s the nearest shelter

Because we have 45 seconds and to run to the shelter in case that we need and I cannot run and yes well that’s not the best way to run so actually we need to walk fast 45 seconds uh and chap already knows so when there’s a siren when there is an

Alarm he’s the first one to run to the shelter people here have different perspectives but we’re all thrown apart this trauma will stay for day decades and no one wants War but what else can we do well I believe that at the moment we must hear and listen to those who

Survived again and again and Again my name is uh Sophie uh bone maai I’m a visual artist and curator a mother of three Children I live in kibuts Berry or at least used to I was co-director of our art Gallery we were a peaceful community the kibuts is the majority of it uh leftwing it’s a closely knit Community uh we have shared uh Holidays the fact that you know everyone I share my life with them in a very intimate kind of way since I was a young child so everyone is like your family in a way Friday evening we had a dinner with the family we had a lot of fun we went to play

Tennis just laughing everything was perfectly normal and no no one could imagine what we were going to wake up to Saturday Morning I think it was halfast 6 very loud explosions they like nothing I’ve ever heard we woke up abruptly and woke up my oldest daughter and I I told her you know run to the to the safe room and I grabbed my little one and um you

Know we just shut the door on us and we were like okay so Rockets missiles we know the drill we just need to sit tight and it will be over in whatever in between we got a a message that there are there is indication of terrorists

Like somewhere but not in the kots and my children asked me Mommy can they can they can they reach the kibuts and I said uh no I don’t think so because we are quite far from the border we’re almost 5 km and you know it’s a lot of

Ground to cover and obviously the Army will will stop them on the Way so I said no I don’t think so but like 2 minutes later we got a message that the terrorists are in the Kibo this is absolutely insane and the messages I started reading were like they’re trying to break into my house they’re in my house they’re they’re burning my house uh Pleading for help to be saved the most unbelievable uh messages were recorded on that WhatsApp group that mothers begging for their [Applause] lives one mother recorded a message that uh they shot her baby in the head just I just sat there and I couldn’t believe this is Happening I understood that they’re burning the houses so I when it became a bit quiet I I crept out of the the safe room and I took all the towels from the shower and just opened the T the the the tap in the tub and just took four very

Wet towels so you know if they enter my house and set it on fire then I can try to stop the smoke from entering the safe room I brought knives from the kitchen and I just sat there next to the door with a knife in my hand which in hindsight seems

Absolutely a pathetic attempt to think I can defend myself or my children against these sadistic barbaric inhuman People and um very quickly we realized that the door of the safe room isn’t bulletproof because they started shooting through it and throwing hand grenades and like doing really everything they could to get into the safe room where where families hid with their children and just butchered them they went they covered neighborhood

After neighborhood and they went door to door and they killed everyone they started shooting at our window of the safe room it’s it’s a really heavy metal window like hundreds of bullets and you can hear it like going ping ping ping ping and the kids

Were I just told them you know just just hold tight we have to hold tight you’re not alone whatever happens you know whatever happens we’re together we had to be very quiet I didn’t want them to know there there is anyone in the house so we just

Had like every time I heard voices outside my window I was like sh just don’t don’t talk now at some point the kids became very very tired they’re Dre adrenaline is like rushing through your body and you get so tired myself I was trying just not to

Fall asleep and I told them you know just just sleep as much as you can but they were scared that the Army will come to rescue us and they won’t be awake but I said you know don’t just sleep and me and my uh my partner were just uh trying to stay

Awake just praying to be rescued and that went on for hours on end until till 6:00 in the evening when the Army were banging at my door and uh just next thing I know maybe 10 soldiers three of them officers are standing in my living room and I Just collapsed into their arms sobbing hysterically for them to take my children just take my children and save them I I I stepped outside it was already Dark Rockets Landing I could still hear like bullets whizzing next to us they was they were still fighting so the soldiers said you know okay we we can’t evacuate you now there’s too much going on because really the terrorists were really close so they said go go upstairs with your neighbors and

We’ll come back very soon it was I think half 6 already and they didn’t come back until 12: midnight we had no electricity we had no water nobody ate anything since the day before so we sat in complete darkness two families a very young baby my neighbors have a

Baby just waited which at that point I heard we heard terrorists in my house so thank God or whoever that we weren’t there at that point and at midnight uh they came again and uh there were maybe 20 or 30 of them they formed a ring around us we were

Three families with with children I was holding my toddler and two of my children were holding my backpack and uh the soldiers told my kids to close their eyes and not open them until until they tell them to I just stepped outside my house and I was

Like in a different world a different universe And so many didn’t survive so many so much pain children with no parents parents with no children children families torn apart families with children abducted to Gaza abducted children abducted Babies it’s like uh we’re starting like genesis you know we lost everything but our lives and uh now we have to start building a new world upon the ruins of the old one and um it’s very scary to feel like you you you’ve lost everything but it’s also anything can happen CH there was an alarm this is our neighbor hi shat shalom Yeah it’s Saturday night so everyone was eating together and uh there was a missile attack on the village where we live in you can count seven adults three kids and two dogs Chapo say hello to the audience in Germany I’m part of the Israeli left wing I fought against the

Rightwing forces that took over my country since I believe that peace is the only possible way and right now I’m totally confused I have no problem with the people with Gaza but I do have problem with Hamas I feel sorry for every innocent person in Gaza who’s being

Killed because of the attacks on Hamas but welome we do I think that one of the saddest facts about us humans is the fact that we’ve reach the moon but we still don’t know how to bring Justice without killing innocent people like me there are many in the last Wing

At the moment here is Al my name is Arthur rasan I’m 44 years old I’m married to the beautiful Natalie I have three kids I was born and raised here a surfer and a Skater in one of my Endeavors in 2007 I started an organization and a community called surfing for peace together with Dorian pascs the idea started 2007 we delivered 14 boards made by Israeli Shapers to some people that are living in Gaza as far as I remember the Israeli Defense

Force didn’t allow surfboards in cuz they considered it a flammatory material it might be used to create some kind of a weapon I don’t know stupid it was a a proof for connection with common Israeli people Hamas doesn’t like that I’m I’m an Israeli I’m Jewish and I cannot go in [Applause] there

I first of all it was my partner Matt Olsen who’s an American who’s very well connected in Israel and also in Gaza and he helped distribute these boards in the beginning and really found the people and created for them the Gaza Surf Club we kept uh supporting this and it

Expanded later on all over the the the Muslim and and and Jewish world first of all I’m a surfer was the natural thing for me to do as a devoted Surfer that loves surfing it was away for me to give back to surfing and it was a way for me to

Show Israelis are willing to do whatever they can to promote the idea of peace and coexistence even in a little Micro World the surfboards were just a tool the tool to create an understanding between people on a very common basis on a Grassroots level but um what can surbs do right now I’m sorry to say but this this whole idea at the moment is is shattered to little Pieces I grew up in the heart of Tel Aviv I’ve went to shelter million times I grew up to the to the sound of buses exploding on my streets nothing compares to what I feel right now my heart completely changed I think of my family I think of my friends think of my

People I cannot think of people on the other side right now Hamas has basically decided to commit complete suicide and take the people of Gaza with it everybody knew it’s coming there were threats the Army was not There the whole background for what happened and the crack in our defense nine months ago a government I did not elect a hideous government went to power we were protesting for 33 sabbaths in a row for them it was just the greatest opportunity to attack Israel while it

Was dealing within its internal fracture which was completely devouring us as a society people ask me when real peace will come who am I to tell you what’s the right thing to do right now the question is bigger than me one of the most beautiful things about

Living in a democracy that you have multiple point of views sometimes we agree sometimes we disagree so I kind of disagree with no’s point of view but I totally respect it here is noi hello my name is noi I’m a peace activist from Israel um my brother was killed two

Weeks ago in the terror attack of Hamas next to Gaza um I’m really worried about my government my government failed in giving us uh security and safety to me and my brother and to all of the people living in Israel because of that it doesn’t want to admit that it’s wrong

That it did wrong so it attacks Gaza indiscriminately um and it just does terrible things that won’t really help us with anything um from humanitarian point I’m really worried about what’s happening in Gaza now I mean Israel is just bombing their people and just doesn’t care about these

Things um it doesn’t explain us how it will help us to to achieve peace to achieve a better life for us just revenge and in Gaza there like many years there’s this huge season Gaza and just continuing my brother was a peace activist and he helped

Palestinians in the West Bay I know that what he would have wanted to do and he always called to peace and justice for all the people between the Mediterranean and jordian sea so that’s why I call for it because that’s what my brother Wanted so I’m on my way to shooting day in t Aviv uh which is what I do usually for my living this time it’s really weird um my wife said to me goodbye like if I’m going to the war and I had to take a crazy detour and drive to the

East although T is in the west because in the west there are missile attacks uh I’m going to meet Omar moskovitz Omar is a pop singer from Tel Aviv she was born and raised in the city she’s a real City Girl shalom shalom my name is Om mosovich I’m an artist singer and musician from Tel Aviv I make existential pop in Hebrew usually Tel Aviv is a Non-Stop City cafes all sorts of events taking place every day this is hatut square now it’s empty everything is sad Norm there are children here playing

Skaters but now it’s like a memorial this is yam a good friend of mine he was taken hostage the worst part what prays on my mind are the hostages I just don’t know what’s going on with them and what will happen it just seems like the hardest thing in the world to me

A whole family wow it’s impossible to grasp what Hamas did impossible I got a message from a girl who survived the attacks she wrote to ask me if I could send her instrumentals of my songs because she has no music at the moment and my songs help her feel

Calm so of course I did and I asked her if it was okay if I visited her so we could sing together um I’ll go and play for Her I don’t know what her story is or what happened to her I guess everyone she knew there was a massacre in her kots Hey nice to meet you a hug I hug people more often nowadays I’m AIA with a Y it’s weird to meet like this how are you okay how about you the first time I listened to music again was the day before yesterday it was early in the morning

Before sunrise and I was like okay what’s going on and I went out to the balcony with my headphones and for the first time I listened to music and I thought about what music I wanted to hear and your songs came to mind to me they’re Mystic but heartfelt

And it’s exactly that kind of music I feel I can listen to I like the instrumental version because it helps me feel calmer I like to sing and when I sing I don’t feel anxious the before and after is one thing but while I sing I feel safe constantly fighting with whether I

Want to cry or not and I don’t know there’s no right answer do you think about the future it depends I think about the long-term dreams and short-term dreams but I don’t know would you like to sing we could do the house in kabut B

But that might make me cry oh my god of course it will Get I’m just so sorry about everything that’s happening here right now it seems like we have to fight peace seems so distant but I can’t help but hope I have to hope otherwise there isn’t anything to live For

The terrorist attacks by Hamas transformed life in Israel overnight. How are people coping? Amid war between Israel and Hamas and escalating tensions across the Middle East, we meet people whose everyday lives are now marked by fear and suffering.

British-Israeli curator and artist Sofie Berzon MacKie was in the Be’eri kibbutz when Hamas attacked. She hid with her children while others from her community were killed just meters away. Ori Szternfeld is an Israeli filmmaker whose wife is pregnant. Right now, their feelings fluctuate between excitement about the baby they’re expecting very soon, and uncertainty about the world they’re bringing it into. Surfing4Peace founder Arthur Rashkovan and singer Omer Moskovich are undeterred by the fear and instability in their country and refuse to give up hope.

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