Relatives, friends and survivors gathered on Tuesday at the Nova festival site where over 370 were slaughtered and dozens taken hostage: ”We live the trauma every day. It feels as if it happened yesterday.”
Daniel Ducarme met with Adi Gan El Cheery, a survivor of Kibbuts Nahal Oz, originally from Belgium, as well as with Katy Zohar, whose 23-year-old daughter Bar was murdered at the Nova site.
During an emotional visit to the sites of the terrorist attacks of October 7 2023, Denis Ducarme, Member of Belgium’s federal parliament, realized Tuesday that the shock is still being felt among Israelis two years after the deadliest attack against Israel since its creation.
‘’I wanted to come here last year but I couldn’t,’’ Ducarme, who is from the MR liberal french-speaking political party which is part of the coalition government, told journalists. said.” I was very affected by the attack on October 7, which killed 1,219 Israelis and led to the kidnapping of 251 people.’’ 48 hostages are still in captivity into the hands of Hamas.
”But the trauma of October 7 has been underestimated in Europe,” he said. One must visit the sites of the October massacre to fully appreciate the trauma that continues to haunt Israeli society, across all political divides.
He explained that he had also been affected by the film “Bearing Witness”, which was made after the 7 October attacks. ‘He helped to screen the film in the Belgian federal parliament despite the refusal by some parties. ‘’Fortunately, there is now hope for peace. But the war and the humanitarian tragedy began here, on October 7, 2023.
‘’Newspapers and films are all well and good, but I knew that by coming here I would have the opportunity to meet survivors of the attack and gain a deeper understanding,’’ the lawmaker said.
He met with Adi Gan El Cheery, a survivor of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, originally from Belgium, as well as with Katy Zohar, whose daughter 23-year-old Bar was killed at the Nova festival massacre where 370 young people were killed while partying.
Addi was very moved by Ducarme’s visit to her kibbutz. ‘’Your support is so important, especially on this day,’’ she said because Europe doesn’t understand what happened here.
Ducarme declared:”October 7, 2023, marks the largest terrorist attack since September 11. It was Hamas that blindly came to massacre children, women, men, and the elderly, simply because they were Jewish. But this was not just an act of terrorism. It was also an act of war, since Hamas terrorists entered Israeli territory to commit these atrocities. October 7 therefore also marked the beginning of the war.’’
‘’What other country, in Europe or elsewhere, would have allowed more than 1,200 of its citizens to be massacred on its territory without taking retaliatory measure,’’ Ducarme asked. ‘’A war that led to the humanitarian tragedy we see today,’’ he added.
He noted that while we see every day images of the war in Gaza that are fully occuoying people’s minds what has probably been somewhat forgotten, however, is that the origin of this war was indeed October 7.
Do you feel that the conflict is being imported a little too much into Belgium?
He also deplored that the war in the Gaza Strip ‘’is much more widely discussed and mobilizes more people today than the conflict in Ukraine, even though the latter has much more direct consequences for Europe and its sovereignty.’’
Asked why does this subject generate so much passion and lead to irrationality, Ducarme said : ‘’Because in Belgium, a significant minority of the population is either of Jewish or Arab origin, and this inevitably creates a direct emotional connection with this region of the world. This emotional connection is exploited by a number of political parties and civil society organizations, often in a controversial and passionate manner.”
”Conversely, the federal government’s decision seems to me to be rational and balanced: on the one hand, it did not want Belgium to recognize the Palestinian state unconditionally—the release of hostages who have been in Hamas’s hands for two years, the withdrawal of Hamas from Palestinian governance, and its disarmament. On the other hand, it has planned an increase in humanitarian aid and sanctions against the Israeli government, with the aim of bringing about a ceasefire and ensuring that Israel assumes greater humanitarian responsibility in the Gaza Strip.’’
.On October 7, some 3,000 Hamas terrorists entered kibbutzim and cities along the Gaza border including Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, Be’eri, Nirim, Zikim, Kfar Azza, Netiv HaAsara, Sderot (where the police station was completely destroyed), Netivot, Kissufim, and the Nahal Oz military base.
They massacred residents who, on that day, were eating with their families, playing ball with their children, or enjoying the holiday of Simchat Torah. A
‘’What is also often unknown in Belgium is that these kibbutzim located along the border are known for their pacifist nature and for regularly helping the neighboring Palestinian population,’’ recalled Ducarme.
‘’I also saw during my visit the deep divide between Israelis themselves: on one side, those who want to see the end of Hamas; on the other, those who want to see the end of the war. Israel is deeply divided on this issue.’’
”The problem is that we need to end this war and that today on the other side of the border in the Gaza Strip there are also thousands of civilians who dieand their lives are not less important,” he noted.
However, the Belgian MP expressed the hope that U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambitious plan will lead to a lasting peace. ‘’I am very hopeful. Trump is often judged on his verbal violence, his taste for showmanship and his various excesses. I intend to judge him on his results. Whether you like him or not, Trump’s plan, whatever you may think of it, is the one that brings us closest to the peace we have been pursuing for two years.’’