Before the October 7 attacks, Kibbutz Be’eri’s residents were among Israel’s most progressive residents. Now some find their hearts hardenings.
A piece of heaven on earth. That’s what Geoffrey Majzner says Kibbutz Be’eri was like just one year ago, before this idealistic place of peaceniks and pioneers became a massacre site. Before his sister was murdered in her home by Hamas terrorists as he sheltered in his bedroom just a few streets away. Galit Carbone: 66 years old. Mother of three, grandmother of six. TheMajzner - also known as Danny - describes his older sister as “exactly my opposite”.
That sense of safety was shattered when around 200 Hamas terrorists stormed across the border and entered the kibbutz brandishing machine guns and hand grenades. Majzner was heading out for an early morning bike ride when their air ride sirens sounded just after 6.30am. He would spend the next 20 hours holed up in his apartment, using his phone to communicate with neighbours and relatives as he waited for help to arrive.
Visit Be’eri today and you will hear not just the birdsong of more tranquil times but the regular thud of Israeli artillery being fired into Gaza. It’s a visceral reminder that the war triggered by the October 7 attacks grinds on a year later, at a tremendous cost to Palestinian lives, even as the world’s attention shifts to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Almost 42,000 Palestinians have died in the war, according to the Gazan health ministry.
Avida Bahar was shot in the leg by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023. The wound was so serious his leg had to be amputated.As our tour continues, Majzner introduces us to one of his best kibbutz cycling buddies: Avida Bahar. As the kibbutz’s head of agriculture, he is responsible for overseeing its jojoba, avocado, pomelo and wheat crops. Sitting among the debris of that day still scattered around his burnt-out house – glue sticks, clothes, toys – he tells his story.
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