There are many calendar dates that live in infamy because of the horrific events that occurred on those dates. December 7, September 11, and the 9th of the Jewish month of Av. Pearl Harbor, the Al-Qaeda terror attacks on America, and the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem were such devastating events that the mere mention of their dates is enough to bring people back to the events that occurred thousands of years ago.
October 7 was less than four months ago and yet the date is stuck in our minds. The events of that day were so horrific, the murders, rape, and kidnappings – but most of all the brutality of the attacks, they will never be forgotten, and the date will remain fixed in the minds of Israelis, Jews, and many across the world. Unlike Israeli’s Independence War, its Six Day War, or Yom Kippur War, the Palestinian terror attacks of October 7 weren’t spread out over months, weeks or even days. The Palestinian terrorists attacked within one day and Israel was able to stop almost all fighting on Israeli territory within twenty-four hours.
During the nightmare that began early with Hamas rocket fire at 6:30 a.m. barbaric events played throughout Israel and have become seared into the hearts and minds of Israelis, Zionists, Jews, and people throughout the world. The names of attacked towns previously unfamiliar to most Israelis, Kfar Azza, Be’eri, and Kibbutz Reim, are now some of the most well-known towns in Israel.
Israelis who should have led private lives were taken hostage, and their faces have been posted on and offline throughout the world. They are now as familiar to their fellow citizens as their own families. The pictures that stemmed from the attacks will never be erased from the Zionist heart and mind.
There are images that should be just as well-known from that horrific day that unfortunately not getting any attention. The Nova Music Festival partying had been going all night long and was finishing up as the sun began to rise over the trees. The 45 Israeli police officers on duty at the festival, primarily there for crowd control, were getting ready for the close of the festival just 30 minutes away.
All of a sudden, their radios started screaming “rockets,” and overhead they watched more rockets than they’d ever seen screech low across the sky from Gaza. The music was so loud it drowned out the sounds of the air raid sirens that screamed for everyone to take cover. The police ordered the music shut off and for the festival participants to lay down on the ground and cover their heads.
The police then saw the paragliders coming in under the rockets. At first it was hard to believe, but as the Hamas paragliders spied the music festival they redirected and began landing among the festival goers. Armed with thousands of bullets, grenades, and RPGs, the police were outmatched with their handguns. It would’ve been easy to understand a police officer ordering mass retreat and for people to run for their lives, but the police directed the festival goers to a safe route and began firing at the Hamas terrorists.
THE ARMY was called, the entire country went into high alert, but the nearest IDF bases were under attack themselves. The soldiers were fighting for their lives as thousands of Hamas fighters fanned out over the South and attacked the army bases meant to protect against just such an attack. For hours the police officers assigned to the festival, those that lived in the communities under attack, and the incredibly brave officers who rushed to the area from all over Israel were the Jewish State’s first line of defense.
The police were also targeted by Hamas fighters. The Palestinians knew ahead of time where the police stations in Sderot and Ofakim were, and they targeted them immediately. These fighters didn’t come just to kill a police officer or two. They came with .50 caliber machine guns, RPGs, and high powered, automatic rifles. They came to conquer the police stations, their officers, and the areas of their jurisdiction.
On the scene of the attack
By 8:00 AM, within ninety minutes of the start of the attack, the police’s special forces unit, Yamas, was on the scene of the attack fighting the Palestinian terrorists. Within the first hours, Yamas Jerusalem and Yamas of the South were within the gates of the kibbutzim, eliminating members of Hamas and securing the kibbutzim.
Police officers took armored cars and drove them into the heart of the battle to distract the Palestinian terrorists, draw their fire, and give the police special forces units the time to eliminate the terrorists. The police commander of the area, Amir Cohen, made the life saving decision to close down the southern district. That decision, and so many other decisions the police made in the first hours of the battle, reflected the Israeli police’s quick grasp of the situation.
There were countless police heroes on the morning of October 7. Police officer Debby Avraham fought until her very last bullet, refusing to run or be defeated until she was left with nothing to defend herself. She fell protecting her fellow Jews and Israelis, and a picture of her stands tall at the site of the Nova Music Festival. Officer Avraham was just one of the many unsung police heroes of that horrific day.
The Israeli police are rarely given proper credit. It’s not surprising that Israeli soldiers and the IDF are given the glory, but a complete picture of October 7th is incomplete without singing the praises of the Israeli police bravery. There were 17 police officers who died defending the Jewish people at the Nova music festival, more died fighting Hamas in other areas of the country, and even more saved countless lives in the first hours of the attack. The unsung heroes of October 7th are the brave Israeli police.
The writer is a Zionist educator at institutions around the world and recently published a new book, Zionism Today.