A Jewish New Yorker who survived the Hamas attack on the Nova Music Festival is reunited with the man who saved his life — but admits he’s still nervous in the US.
Natalie Sanandaji, 28, of Long Island, returned to Israel last week for the first time since surviving the Oct. 7 massacre to reunite with Israeli hero Moshe Sati.
Sati, along with her son, saved more than 100 festival goers by driving into terrorist attacks and taking people out of the festival area by the truckload more than 10 times.
“Not many people would do what he did,” Sanandaji told The Post Thursday after landing back in New York. “He’s honestly one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met.”
Sanandaji had only recently learned of Sati’s name as the chaos and dire need for self-rescue preoccupied him at times of attack and rescue.
When he returned to Israel, one of his friend’s fathers found out who he was and sent him Sati’s number. Then they arranged a meeting.
“I was very lucky that he was who he was and that he was there that day to save me,” Sanandaji said. “He’s the guy in his hometown that whenever someone needs help, they always come to him and he always says yes. He doesn’t think twice, it’s just who he is.”
Natalie Sanandaji, 28, of Long Island, returned to Israel last week for the first time since surviving the Oct. 7 massacre to reunite with her rescuer, Moshe Sati. Fox News Sati, along with her son, saved more than 100 festival goers by driving into terrorist attacks and taking people out by the truckload more than 10 times.
Sati never wanted recognition for her heroic deeds, Sanandaji said, because she was a “simple person.”
“That’s the greatest thing someone can do for you [is save your life],” the Long Islander said. “I don’t know how to thank him.
“It’s extraordinary, it’s quite against human nature, because human nature can be so selfish, and only to meet a truly selfless person who is willing to risk his own life – not once, but to risk his life over and over again . … To meet someone like that who has such a big heart and is so selfless, it’s not something you see every day. It was amazing to meet him.”
Sati’s son — who practices Shabbat, meaning he can’t drive gas-powered vehicles on Saturdays, among other things — never hesitated to get into his own truck and help his father rescue terrified festival-goers on Saturday, Oct. 7.
The son and his father chased down attendees – like Sanandaji – who had been running from the terrorists for several hours and threw them into the back of their pickup truck.
Sati had found Sanandaji after she and a group of friends ran for four hours, she told The Post in October.
At that time, they did not know whether Sati would come to kill them or save them. He drove them to the neighboring town of Patish, less than 10 miles outside the Gaza Strip, before returning to the festival to rescue more people.
They met for the first time outside Sati’s house, and “she started crying and she got emotional,” Sanandaji said. Their heartwarming reunion was filmed by CNN.
The couple quickly developed a deep bond from their shared trauma — so much so that the father of four invited him to his table whenever he visited Israel. The New Yorker said he plans to take up his offer as soon as possible.
Sati had found Sanandaji after she and a group of friends ran for four hours, she told The Post in October. He drives them to the neighboring town of Patish before returning to the festival to rescue more people. CNN
The Iranian Israeli, who has lived on Long Island all his life, also visited the festival grounds for the first time since the attack.
The faces of the more than 350 people who died at the festival were attached to wood and erected on the ground in a memorial. One of the faces belonged to the brother of Sanandaji’s former boss, who was a DJ at the festival.
Despite the violence Sanandaji faced that day, he said he felt safer in Israel than in the US, echoing what he told The Post in October.
Since that interview, the Big Apple has seen countless acts of antisemitism, including people tearing down posters of kidnapped Israelis, vandals painting a swastika on a Jewish deli and a man covering a woman’s face over her Jewish heritage on the subway.
As Sanandaji has seen all this unfold in the Big Apple – which has the highest Jewish population outside of Israel – he believes he is “safest as a Jew in Israel,” he said.
“I’m more anxious to be home now,” he said by phone just an hour after landing back in the Empire State. “I just arrived in New York today and I don’t feel comfortable speaking Hebrew in public, and I definitely feel more careful walking here.”
The Iranian Israeli also visited the festival grounds for the first time since the attack. AFP via Getty Images Despite the violence he faced during the October 7 attacks, he still said he felt safer in Israel than in the US, repeating what he told The Post in October. AFP via Getty Images
He said it was “sad to see” the amount of antisemitism going on in the US, especially on college campuses.
Several colleges have seen their presidents in hot water, including UPenn’s Liz Magill, who resigned over the backlash. Others, including Harvard and MIT, are calling for similar action.
“When any kind of leader shows that they think it’s okay for these antisemitic attacks to happen, it gives any lone wolf or any ordinary person with antisemitic thoughts the feeling that it’s okay to take action and they won’t be reprimanded, and that’s scary,” said Sanandaji.
But he says it’s not just the US that is seeing an increase in hatred of Jews.
While traveling, Sananaji sees hateful graffiti in Barcelona and meets a nervous group of Jews in a coffee shop in Germany.
“It makes me very sad,” he said. “It’s really everywhere now.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
