For one Holocaust survivor, witnessing the sickening Hamas terror attack on October 7 brought back devastating childhood memories of watching Nazis slaughter his neighbors in Tunisia.
In 1942, Gad Partok was 10 years old when the Nazis marched through the Tunisian coastal town of Nabeul, going door to door to shoot his neighbors dead before setting their homes on fire.
The 93-year-old, who now lives in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, just 15 miles from the Gaza border, said horrifying memories of his youth came rushing back as he watched the news on October 7, as Hamas terrorists tore through nearby towns and villages on a murderous rampage.
“The drag of the people of Be’eri, Nir Oz, Kfar Aza, Kissufim, Holit, it is the same thing. It reminds me of the same thing,” he told The Associated Press, mentioning the name of an Israeli community where residents were brutally murdered by terrorists.
“I am very, very unwell. I also felt a feeling, hard to explain, disgust, fear, horrible memories,” said Partok.
Gad Partok, a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor, said the October 7 Hamas attack brought back childhood memories of Nazis slaughtering his neighbors in Tunisia. AP
Saturday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which reminds the world of the 6 million Jews and many other groups murdered by the Nazis and their allies.
For many in Israel, home to about half of the world’s Holocaust survivors like Partok, this year’s commemoration has greater gravitas following the Oct. 7 attacks, when Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 more.
The Partok family managed to escape from Tunisia to what would become Israel in 1947, a year before the country’s independence.
Partok today lives in Ashkelon in southern Israel, just a few miles from the villages and communities where Hamas slaughtered and kidnapped residents. AP
For many years, he was a photography instructor and owned a photo shop in Ashkelon. Today. His many grandchildren and great-grandchildren also call the Jewish state home.
The devastating attacks by Hamas, however, eroded the sense of security Partok felt in Israel, which he had long believed to be a haven for Jews.
The nonagenarian recalled his shock at seeing violent terrorists so easily wreak a bloody trail through towns and agricultural communes across southern Israel, having taken the country’s notorious security forces by surprise.
The Partok family managed to escape from Tunisia to what would become Israel in 1947, a year before the country’s independence. AP
“Where are the soldiers? Where is the government? our people?” he remembers thinking.
Today, the sounds of war are ever-present in Partok’s life, between the constant boom of Israel bombing Gaza and Hamas firing rockets into Israel.
More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed since the outbreak of war, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and terrorists.
Partok said witnessing the ease with which Hamas went on a murderous rampage had destroyed the sense of security he felt in Israel. AP
Partok regularly has a news channel on his home television, keeping up with the latest on war and hostages.
“I sat in my armchair, and I looked, and my eyes stared, and I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “Is it true? Is it so?”
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
