Kibbutz Reim, Israel. Although it didn't happen as its etymological definition establishes: "A cataclysmic thermonuclear explosion," the name 'Nova' will go down in universal infamy for something equally catastrophic, a creation of human beings, not a stellar phenomenon. Near the Gaza Strip, as every year, 'Nova', an electronic music festival that attracted thousands of young people from Israel and other countries, was taking place. On October 7th, the place where happiness, music, dance, freedom, and youth reigned, turned into a Dantean, macabre, infernal scene when Palestinian terrorists penetrated Israel from Gaza, reached the open field of the Nova festival, and began shooting and throwing grenades indiscriminately at the young audience.
At the end of this bloody ordeal, 367 young corpses lay scattered throughout the area, two of them Colombian. Some had their heads severed and taken as trophies to Gaza, where they were celebrated. Several of the women had been raped. The place smelled of death when the rescue teams arrived; everything was in ruins. Dozens were kidnapped, taken to Gaza; their status is unknown.
We find ourselves at the site where that massacre occurred. There are posts with photos of the murdered and Israeli flags. The view shakes the soul; the images of so many young people killed are overwhelming. This will be a pilgrimage site for years to come, a place of prayer and reflection. Possibly, the festival will rise from the ashes as a testimony, once again, that Israel does not bow to terrorism or barbarism.
After the massacre on October 7th, with its tragic toll of 1200 killed and 240 abducted, committed by Hamas, a radical jihadist Palestinian organization ruling Gaza, Israel had no choice but to exercise its right to legitimate defense. This right applies not only to an act of aggression already consummated but also to the potential for similar aggressive actions in the future when the aggressor has expressed such intentions and has the means to carry them out. "There will be another and another attack like October 7th until the annihilation of Israel," Hamas leaders have repeated. Any state would take such a threat seriously.
Israel is forced to fight an impossible, tragic war that has caused great suffering and a lamentable number of Palestinian civilian casualties. But there is no doubt that if there had not been 7/10, none of this would be happening. Accusations against Israel of genocide, when exercising its legitimate defense, fall apart under their own weight, lack foundation, and are mostly made by individuals, NGOs, or governments, such as the South African one, known for their hostility towards the State of Israel.
The civilian population of Gaza has been held hostage by Hamas since 2007, when this organization expelled the Palestinian Authority from the Strip. As has been revealed over these more than four months, Hamas massively violates international humanitarian law and the laws of war with its tunnels, command and control centers, and missile launchers located in civilian infrastructure, schools, mosques, hospitals, and residential neighborhoods.
Hamas has turned the Gaza Strip into a terrorist lair to attack Israel using the Palestinian population as human shields. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other organizations like Hezbollah consistently incite to Jewish genocide and the destruction of Israel, just as Iran does. Faced with these threats, Israel, as the only Jewish state in the world, defends itself. What happened in Nova must never be repeated.
This article was originally published in Spanish in El País.
