June 2025
On 7 October 2023, a group of around 6, 000 terrorists with the death cult Hamas breached the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, and launched an armed attack against civilians attending the Nova Music Festival near Kibbutz Re’im, in southern Israel.
The barbaric attack began at 06:29 hours, as the sun was rising in the sky, with a barrage of around 4, 300 rockets fired into Israel. In addition to attacking the festival site, the terrorists also attacked military bases and civilian communities such as kibbutzim at Be’eri, Kfar, Aza, Nir Oz, Netiv Haasara and Alumim.
In total, 1,195 people were killed, including members of the on-site security and police forces. The terrorists took 251 Israeli civilians and soldiers hostage and transported them back to Gaza. Many of the women were viciously raped and abused by the terrorists.
The Nova Music Festival Exhibition tells the story of the brutal massacre, with many artifacts from the Nova Festival site providing a visual representation of the horror and chaos of that horrific day. Organized as a traveling exhibit in December 2023, by activists and producers behind the festival, recreating the massacre site in detail.
I visited the exhibition to bear witness to the accounts of the atrocities committed and to hear directly from survivors and families of those murdered and taken hostage. Designed as a walk-through exhibit, it consists of items recovered from the music festival.
On prominent display are items recovered after the attacks along with the remnants of burned-out cars, porta-potties that were used as hiding places, a camping area, complete with hammocks and camp chairs from the festival, and the festival stage, which was reassembled under the same dance floor canopy that was in use when organizers called out the red alert about the attack at sunrise.
Two re-creations of the roadside bunkers that frequently line streets in Israel are also a part of the display. It was in several of these bunkers that the terrified festival attendees and workers hid inside; where many died from terrorist bullets and hand grenades.
There are also walls covered with the faces, names and stories of those viciously murdered, those still held in captivity and the dead who’s bodies haven’t been returned to their families for a proper burial.
Large monitors play videos shot by Nova attendees and the attacking terrorists. Some of the videos show panicked messages and videos that were exchanged between young party-goers and their families during the early moments of the attack.
A very special part of the exhibit is the personal testimonies of Nova survivors. These men and women bravely relate their personal stories of terror, confusion, bravery, self-sacrifice and survival, sometimes simply by chance, before a live audience who are riveted to their every word, every tear and every strained smile. These addresses can be cathartic and horrifying. All expressed relief of surviving this barbaric terrorist attack, along with the inevitable survivors guilt and PTSD.
The biggest takeaway that I took from this exhibit, as I did when I watched the documentary #NOVA: An October 7th Documentary, was Hamas, and their terrorist allies, are a bunch of fucking animals; nothing more than a bunch of fucking animals!! It’s one thing to attack soldiers, but they purposely chose to attack innocent civilians too! For a soldier, it’s an occupational hazard that your may die in the line of duty. You know that going in when you join the military, which is why they give you a gun and bullets to shoot back. There’s a reason why it has been a long-established “rule of warfare” that you don’t purposely target civilians. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, and civilians become collateral damage, but those butchered at Nova were NOT collateral damage. Hamas purposely targeted civilians that day, and you are willfully blind and very likely antisemitic, if you believe otherwise.
Nova survivor Hila Fakliro made a rather poignant remark when addressing the issue of what to do with all the antisemitic hate coming from the pro-Hamas agitators that have invaded cities across the world with their “From the river to the sea” chants: She said it’s pointless to try to debate these people, as they are so consumed by their hatred of Jews, that you can’t reason with them. No amount of conclusive evidence that it’s actually Hamas that is attempting to conduct a genocide, against both Jews and Gazans, will change their opinions.
“The tribe of Nova community has developed this catchphrase ‘We Will Dance Again.’ The exhibition has been largely funded through the generosity of individuals and corporate donors who have come together to ensure that this story of the largest massacre in music history is told via the exhibit experience that has become the catalyst for remembrance, dialogue, allyship and healing.”
Sources: The Exhibit — Nova Exhibition, ‘The Moment Music Stood Still’ becomes interactive at the Nova exhibition in Toronto, OPINION: Toronto’s Nova exhibition through a Muslim lens | Toronto Sun, Next Gen – Nova Exhibit | UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, October 7 attacks – Wikipedia, October 7 massacre survivor commits suicide on her 22nd birthday | National Post, Nova Music Festival Survivors Share Stories After Attack Nova music festival massacre – Wikipedia, Nova Festival survivor shares how God saved her from Hamas Page 2 | World.
