- 6 months ago
October 7 Hamas attack survivors speak at the Nova Music Festival Exhibition event in Washington, D.C.
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00:00Good afternoon everyone my name is Gil
00:06Proust I'm the CEO of the Jewish
00:08Federation of Greater Washington and it
00:11is my privilege to welcome you all to
00:15the opening gathering of the NOVA
00:18exhibit in Washington DC
00:21as you probably all know by now there's
00:29probably no exhibit more important for
00:33people to see today and in the coming
00:36weeks particularly given what happened
00:40last night and will be occurring over
00:43the next several days and weeks the
00:46history that we saw downstairs and up
00:49here is not one of the past it is one
00:53that continues to define the Jewish
00:56people the Jewish community and Israel
00:58in very deep ways I'd like to thank all
01:03of the sponsors both locally and
01:05nationally who helped make this happen
01:07as you all know this is vital for the
01:11message to go out what it does is it
01:15gives people a chance to not just live
01:17and remember what happened almost 19
01:21months ago now but really the message of
01:25today that the threats the attacks that
01:30occurred on October 7th reverberate
01:34throughout our community and even though
01:36we will not let that determine and define
01:39who we are and the NOVA exhibit is very
01:41much about resiliency and recovery and
01:43regrowth and renewal we cannot forget what
01:48happened on those days and so with that I
01:52encourage you all to not just be here
01:56today but when you leave to reach out to
02:00your friends and colleagues and invite them
02:03to come with you to bring them to this
02:06exhibit because at the end of the day this
02:09is not just about us seeing it and being
02:12here it's about your networks of people who
02:15otherwise might not come they need to be
02:18here and they need to bring their networks
02:20and they need to bring their friends and in
02:23that way we'll be able to change the
02:26discourse of what is going on and what
02:29needs to happen going forward so with that I do
02:34want to note one thing that we do expect Steve
02:37Witkoff to join later and he is coming the
02:42Israeli ambassador who was slated to come
02:45sends his apology that he's otherwise busy
02:48today but it is my honor to invite Noah
02:54Argamani up here to the stage to share her
02:59story with us today
03:14hello everyone my name is Nargamani up until a
03:20year ago I had never set foot in Washington DC and
03:26now I'm advocate for all the hostages since
03:33my rescue from captivity by the brave IDF
03:37soldier I dedicate my life to bring my
03:40partner and all the hostages back home I had
03:53meeting in the White House Congress speaking
03:56in the UN tons of events around us and I
04:01met so many people I can see here today so
04:06many familiar faces of people who stand with us
04:09since day one thank you for hosting me for so
04:14many places now let me host you in my home the
04:21Novak community is my home we share the same values the
04:26same perspective of peace love and kindness on
04:33October 7 I was taken hostage by Hamas
04:36terrorists I was in the Nova music festival with
04:40my partner Abinatano at 6 30 in the morning when the
04:45rocket started we thought this is just an hour
04:48drug from Gaza but after a while we realized this
04:53is different we tried to escape to our car but
04:58terrorists start shooting on us no matter when
05:01we returned we tried to get away but then
05:05our car got stuck and we had to hide in
05:08hours until we discovered by a group of
05:12terrorists that was the last time that I
05:16saw my partner the last time I saw my love
05:20was 660 days ago in captivity I asked about
05:26Avinatano everywhere I went I lived in a fear
05:32every single day I didn't want the guarders to
05:36suddenly lose control and kill me all the
05:39terrorists was armed with 20 weapons knife and
05:43grenades one mistake and the entire situation can
05:48turn upside down I watched my friends getting
05:54released while I stayed behind I wasn't a part of any
05:58category that could be released and I stay behind
06:01with demands but after a few months two of my friends was
06:07murdered while I survived Yossi Sharabi and
06:11Tysbierski were by my side every day and then I lost
06:17them the memory be a blessing after five months I had to be
06:24along with the terrorists until the day that I was rescued
06:30being here today with you is nothing short of a miracle
06:34it's been a year things I was rescued a year was passed a year has passed yet
06:46nothing was truly changed we're still in a war we still have hostages trying to
06:56survive each day each meaning living hell hostages are starving holding heroic
07:06condition without any water I'm not the same person I had a year ago I learned that I
07:17have to be strong not only for myself but also for the others for those who
07:26lost something close for the families of the hostages and for the hostages
07:31themselves I'm not the same person I was a year ago I choose to fight but in my
07:40term I listen to inner voice I make my decision with care I find myself in
07:48places I never dreamed I'd be I met people I never imagined I would met I had the
07:55privilege to see many hostages return home into the arms of their loved ones I
08:02broke down I rose again tons of time and still it's not over my partner binathan is
08:14still in Hamas captivity and I miss him I miss him more every passing day I worry but I
08:24have to be strong for both of us I hold into hope every single day that this
08:33nightmare will end and we will finally get to live the life that we dream of this
08:40nightmare will only end when all 53 hostages will come home I ask you all do not let us lose hope
08:53be strong with us we will dance again make sure that that world understand what
09:02happened in October 7 and what the hostages are still going through help us bring all the
09:10hostages home now thank you very much thank you Noah and thank you everyone for being here and my name is of
09:37firami I'm one of the co-founders of the Nova festival and also co-producers of the Nova exhibit and the
09:45survivor on October 7th we came together to dance and celebrate life as the attack began I stayed behind
09:55with my fellow Nova festival producers to help others escape death hundreds of armed Hamas terrorists stormed the
10:04area and fired bullets everywhere and we found ourselves running for our lives seven of us jumped into a car a six
10:13terrorist viciously open fire I was shot in both legs we stopped the car and hid in the field and moments
10:22later I watched my friend lying besides me taking his last breath I couldn't move lying still and playing dead I
10:31was bleeding and praying for my life and all I could think about was my wife Leo she was nine months
10:39pregnant and waiting for me to come home for the next three hours she kept me alive talking to me over
10:47the phone when I hid from her the severity of my wounds I didn't want her to worry in her condition it is
10:55truly a miracle that I'm here today just one hour separated me from life and death we were rescued after
11:03four hours hiding in the field I was taken to the hospital where I was finally reunited with my wife I
11:11went through a long period of rehabilitation to get back on my feet while carrying a lifelong emotional injury
11:20journey yet I was and still am grateful for surviving and returning home I was fortunate to witness my baby
11:31girl Eliana born exactly four weeks after October 7th Leon and Eliana are my biggest light I got my life
11:41back but forever I will carry the memory of the friends are lost and the many beautiful souls we lost that
11:48day our tribe of angels there's so many inconceivable stories like mine and sadly there's so many we will
11:57never hear stories that will never be told October 7th completely changed my life and over a period of 10
12:07years the people who came to attend Nova music festivals from the community faces became familiar these people
12:16became our friends and then our family October 7th has been a personal tragedy for each one of us but has also been
12:24devastating to our entire Nova community those of us who were there understand that we went through
12:33something that will connect us all forever and within that first day we knew we need to come together and
12:40support each other so we open a healing center for the next two months a place for the survivors and the
12:47families to come and heal together to feel safe and feel the love of the community for me this was also the
12:55first place I had the courage to go to and feel normal again the tribe of Nova foundation was born out of the
13:03experience that we shared our mutual values and our sensitivity to one another ever since my attention and focus have been
13:14entirely to the survivors and foundation and through helping others I found that I've also been healing and helping
13:21myself tribe of Nova's program have helped me cope with my trauma and have demonstrated how we all benefit when we give
13:30ourselves to others while running the healing center and open the foundation only sassy my friend and one of the
13:40co-founders who also saved my life urges us to do something to remember our friends that have been murdered and show
13:47the whole world what happened to us we created the exhibition in Tel Aviv inspired by the art by the need to honor the
13:55the memory of our friends and family and after we opened be immediately understood what an impact this is making on
14:03everyone that sees it it's not only for the memorial it's such a strong tool to show the world what happened to us there's so
14:12much hate and so much denial on social media and everywhere around us and but this exhibition we will do everything in our
14:20power to tell our story to educate to fight against hate and to bring our allies together again the
14:28journey of the exhibition to New York Los Angeles Miami Toronto could not have been possible but without
14:35incredible people who started out as friends and have become my brothers Scooter Brown Joe Teplow
14:42Josh Caden and my Canadian brother Jesse Brown please clap
14:46thank you for helping shine a light on this epic saga and for believing in the power of the story
14:59I can't tell you all how important it is for me to stand before you now on behalf of all the survivors
15:07families of the victims and the entire Nova community I want to take a last moment to deeply thank Gil
15:14prayers and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington for their devotion to the tribe of Nova and helping us
15:20open the exhibit here in Washington I also want to thank our Italian our entire Israel and Israeli and production
15:28team without you we won't be here today and what happened on October 7 was the darkest memory in our history since the
15:36Holocaust but we will not let it define us through the exhibition the foundation and each one of you we
15:43will continue to heal rebuild and honor those we lost thank you all you bring us hope and I promise you all
15:51we will dance again thank you
15:58and I'm honored to call my friend Scooter
16:01I won't take it
16:04I won't take it
16:06I just want to welcome everyone here and say how grateful we are that you're joining us
16:18and I know that so many of you here plan on bringing so many of your friends and family and
16:23anyone you're in conversation with to this exhibit and using it as we have around the country as a tool to
16:28tell the truth to tell the story I just want to acknowledge some people that are in the room
16:34obviously you saw Noah Juan who's here Elia who's here Yair I think you're in the back over there and Noah
16:42there you are these are all all hostages who are home with us and I think before I say anything please give them a round of applause for their bravery
16:49you know I was born here in the United States I was born in New York City I'm first generation born here and I have a tremendous amount of pride in being American my grandparents were Holocaust survivors my grandmother were in Auschwitz and my grandfather in Dachau and I have a tremendous amount of pride in being American
17:04my grandparents were Holocaust survivors my grandmother were in Auschwitz and my grandfather in Dachau my father is a refugee from Hungary who sought asylum in this country and something that is intrinsically American is speaking up for those who need to be spoken for something that's intrinsically American is speaking up when things are hard and when Joe Teplow and I went to Israel in December after October 7th and I went to Israel in December after October 7th and I went to Israel in December
17:33after October 7th we wanted to see the truth for ourselves not because we needed to know but because we knew we wanted to have the conversation from a place of honesty and conviction and when we arrived we were first brought to Barry to the kibbutz and we saw things that no human being should ever see the blood was still fresh we heard stories that were unimaginable especially for me a father of three young children
18:01and then we were brought to the nova healing camp where I got to meet some incredible young people and that was the first time during the trip that I found myself incredibly angry because I worked in the music industry for a very long time I was a manager for 23 years I've owned a label worked with the biggest stars in the world and I've also had the unfortunate experience of being part of a concert I hope I never had to be a part of which was one love
18:31Manchester which was a response to terrorism in Manchester at a bombing at our show with Ariana Grande where 22 people lost their lives and no one asked if the young man who killed himself while waiting for families and young children was a freedom fighter they just said violence at a music concert is wrong
19:01and no one asked if the young man who was the young man who was the young man who lived in front of me who were hostages were civilians celebrating at a music festival these were not soldiers they were not in combat they were there dancing with their friends
19:13when you come to this exhibit I hope that you see Coachella I hope that you see stagecoach I hope that you see concerts that you've gone to you won't see anything political here you'll see kids dancing and being joyful and then you'll see real evidence of what took place
19:30and I don't want you to see the conflict I don't want you to see the Middle East I want you to see your brother I want you to see your sister I want you to see your friends I get emotional as I look out I see a friend from Los Angeles who raised her daughters in Los Angeles and as a parent she lost both of her girls that day
19:57and the strength that I've seen from her family of showing up at the NOVA exhibit every single day to tell the story of her girls who were there to dance and to love life and then to still be here and show up in Washington DC to tell that story again because she wants peace because she wants a better world
20:18I introduced her husband I introduced her husband to a friend of mine Ahmed who's a Palestinian from Gaza who's lost 31 members of his family since October 7th
20:31and when I turned around her husband who had just lost his girls was embracing Ahmed and crying together and I just want to say to so many of my fellow Americans
20:43who were here we see ourselves screaming at each other in the streets we see ourselves so divided but if these two families can hug in the NOVA exhibit when they are actually affected by the conflict we can start setting a better example
20:58it starts with us and I really hope that this exhibit gives you an opportunity to have those conversations to use them as an example and I'll leave you with this idea of when I started with Manchester
21:13the whole world rallied within two weeks to do this concert One Love Manchester the whole world the biggest artists in the world and in the last over a year now it's been so much silence and I want to encourage everyone here
21:25something that I've learned lean into the silence do what these kids do it's not never forget the way I was raised with the Holocaust it's we will dance again they don't talk about what they're not going to do they talk about what they're going to do and that is what you should come here and take from this exhibit it's an opportunity to reach out to someone and speak about who you are who we are and who they are and don't stop speaking until their friends come home
21:54their friends come home their partners come home their sister comes home their brother comes home
22:01it's not about the noise and the anger it's about humanity and I just can tell you how grateful I am that you're all here to join us in this moment and be here because if they can be here this is the least we can do so thank you very much
22:17um
22:29um
22:30you want to explain
22:33second
22:33oh yeah
22:35given the
22:37the fluidity of the ongoing situation we just got word that mr. Wykoff will not be able to join us
22:41join us. But thank you so much for joining us today. I want to add one more thing. There are
22:48people in the United States who've made a difference for our entire world, and I just
22:52want to acknowledge someone in the room who showed up because it sends a very big message
22:55to everyone. Michael Milken is here, and I just want to acknowledge you and say thank you for
23:01coming. So once again, like Josh said, with the situation, people have to do their jobs,
23:10but I would say with the biggest names in the world, what we've learned by doing this
23:16exhibit in multiple cities, it starts with one individual and asking them to bring another
23:19individual. So all of you are just as important as anyone in the world, and we ask you to bring
23:24your friends and continue telling their story. Thanks.
23:40I think it's pretty much going on.
23:55We're all open for you. We are in charge of November.
24:00We're all open for you. We are in charge of November.
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