For the American survivors of the Oct. 7 Hamas slaughter at Israel’s Nova music festival, gratitude is on the menu this Thanksgiving.
Natalie Sanandaji and Lee Sasi both survived the shocking terrorist attack on a “unity” festival near Kibbutz Re’im on the Gaza border, which left 260 dead and many hostages.
“I will be very grateful that God gave me a second chance at life,” said Natalie Sanandaji, who lives with her parents in Great Neck, LI, and survived the horrific four-hour and “endless” escape. – “shot, a rocket explodes over your head” – until he was saved by a stranger helping to pile people into his truck.
“I will think about that purpose, and about the purpose I want to give to my life. After being given a second chance like this, I have to make it count.”
The holiday put a fine point on the blessings and what it means to be alive, the 28-year-old said, recalling running in a panic and not knowing whether it was heading in a direction that would save him or lead to death.
Long Island native Natalie Sanandaji survived the terrorist attack that left 260 dead.
“It definitely gives a new meaning to thank you. This year, I really have a lot to be thankful for.”
It will be a double celebration for Sanandaji, who will be reunited with six friends, some of whom he has not seen since before the massacre, for Wednesday’s “Friendsgiving” – complete with wine and games – followed by a “quiet” Thanksgiving with stuffed turkey with Persian-style rice with his parents in Great Neck.
“After everything that happened, I really wanted to be with the people closest to me – and spend time cherishing those relationships – rather than doing something big,” said Sanandaji, an only child. “After all the chaos that happened, during and after the attack, I wanted something calm and peaceful.”
Even with a quieter celebration than usual – “it’s always big, always laughing and merry” with lots of friends and cousins around – Thanksgiving will definitely mean more.
“They hardly see me anymore – it’s a very intense thing to think about.”
Personal belongings of Nova music festival goers after the Reuters attack
Between cooking and resuming, there will be some serious stock-taking.
“It’s going to be the happiest for me and my mom because we haven’t lost each other, but it’s going to be very bittersweet in a way,” he said, expecting to think about fellow festival-goers “dancing right next to you.” who are now trapped in Gaza or killed and their parents can’t celebrate the holiday with them.
“Too many Americans have lost their lives or been kidnapped and their parents won’t be able to hold them and laugh with them during the holidays,” he said. “I think how lucky I am to be alive, but I think about all the other families.”
He sees life differently now.
Lee Sasi and his uncle Avi, who was killed, at a festival near Kibbutz Re’im. Courtesy of Lee Sasi
Since returning home, he left his job in real estate to pursue Jewish and Israeli advocacy full-time as a public affairs officer for the Combat Antisemitism Movement, or CAM, a job that took him speaking across the country.
“Before, I would really live in the moment,” she says, noting that it’s a quality she likes about herself. “But I’m happy to add more meaning to my life. I didn’t necessarily have a purpose or something I was passionate about before – and now I do.”
Gratitude also took on new meaning for Lee Sasi, 25. It had only been six weeks since he hid under a pile of corpses for hours in a bomb shelter before being rescued.
The bomb shelter where Sasi hid for seven hours, under dead bodies. Courtesy of Lee Sasi
“I’m really excited for Thanksgiving,” she told The Post. “It will be a special dinner, just with people I love and am grateful to be alive.”
The LA native attended the music festival in a group of seven.
Rockets started raining down around 6:30 a.m., he recalled. Sasi and some of his group made it to a nearby bomb shelter that he remembered seeing on the way to the festival. About 40 people gathered inside the “five by eight foot” structure made for about eight people.
Sasi says the bodies inside the shelter keep her alive. Courtesy of Lee Sasi
For seven hours he used “survival mode” and dodged grenades, RPGs and a constant spray of “thousands” of shots. Apart from the explosion that “horrified my ears,” Sasi recalls “the smoke from the grenade choked me to death.”
The sound of terrorists laughing during their slaughter – “you can hear the joy in their voices, that’s their high” – will always be with him.
“People were blown to pieces,” he said of the agonizing deaths – some instantly, some dragged out – from grenades thrown by terrorists inside the shelter.
Sasi saw her beloved uncle, Avi, “explode” to protect her from the impact of the grenade.
“Hell is nothing compared to what I went through – I was in Satan’s belly,” he said.
He and two relatives were among 10 survivors who came out of the shelter. Four friends and relatives who went with him to the festival were killed.
“I am grateful to be alive. I’m grateful that I got out of that bomb shelter – those bodies saved my life.”
An avid cook, she’s looking forward to cooking for about 15 guests at her parents’ house this Thanksgiving, and is hunting online for new recipes and preparing a menu that includes “fall-style food,” including green beans , roasted meat. , “juiciest” chick – “too dry” turkey – yams and sweet potatoes.
“Cooking is a way for me to show love and gratitude to others,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be a bittersweet Thanksgiving this year,” Sasi said. “I will be grateful to be with my family, but you think, ‘How did you make it out alive?’ It hits you out of the blue. “Courtesy of Lee Sasi
But the celebration will always have “highs and lows. I think it’s going to be a bittersweet Thanksgiving this year,” Sasi said. “I’ll be thankful to be with my family, but you think, ‘Why did you make it out alive? ?’ It hits you all of a sudden.”
“I see myself differently now” she said, noting that she found strength she didn’t know she had, inspiring others at the shelter, encouraging them not to give up.
“God kept me safe from the bomb shelter for a reason,” said Sasi, who had gotten engaged in Israel a month earlier but whose fiance was not present at the celebration. “It was the best time and the worst time of my life.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
