The Nova Exhibition London

We Will Dance Again

By Esmerelda Weatherwax

My husband and I have just returned from visiting the Nova Exhibition in London. And very impressive and moving it was too.

Security was thorough as one would expect; very friendly, welcoming and polite but certain gentlemen with that hint of steel that I find very reassuring.

This is at the entrance.

We were shown to a seated area, welcomed and invited to watch a short film.  This started with explaining the ancient peaceful tradition of the trance genre of music (not one I listen to but it has its merits) and the festival’s celebration of happiness and fellowship.

There was film of happy joyful young people dancing,  bright clothes, girls in sequined butterfly makeup and gauzy wings; young men with lovely smiles. They spoke of sunrise being the best bit. To dance during the night, gradually be able to make out the faces of your companions and watch the rising sun with them, the dawn of a new day. Except at 6.30 am the morning of Saturday 7th October 2023 the sunrise came with a soundtrack of rocket fire, and hang gliders with death in mind.

We saw the head of security come to the sound desk, he spoke to the DJ who turned off the music and announced Red Alert, Red Alert – Tzeva Adom – rocket attack.  With the sensible advice to take cover.

We all know what developed next.

We were then invited to enter the first room where tents, equipment, cars and infrastructure from the festival had been arranged in the same manner that these had been found. We were invited to pick up the phones and watch the footage, which was also visible on video screens. Sounds of screams, voices calling, and over it all a constant chant of Allahu Akbar.

My photographs are mostly self explanatory.

I checked and photography was permitted and there is no problem with my showing these on the internet.

A burnt out car.

.

Portaloos, some with bullet holes, aimed exactly where the occupant would be most vulnerable.

Video of a digger breaking down a fence and men in civilian clothing pouring through into Israel.

This is the one that got me; I don’t quite know why, unless it was that my best friend’s granddaughter also has a cuddly toy with the same sort of sequined tummy and I saw it on her bedroom floor only 3 days ago.

And no one was to forget that they do all that they do to please Allah the Al-Mumit, The Bringer of Death

One alcove was set aside to deal with the matter of the sexual violence.

This was done very decently. After a brief description of the sort of thing that was perpetrated copies of the Dinah report were available for visitors to examine as far and as long or little as they felt they needed to.

There’s actually three burnt out cars piled on top of each other here.

Then into the next room which was quiet and reflective.

.Every death is memorialised.

A table of hats. The pairs of shoes.  You remember this and this.

The bar, recreated.

Personal tributes

The testimony of David Masada of Israel Prison Service Elite Unit. Reminding us that Israel holds such terrible murderers and terrorists in their prisons that an elite force is necessary.

He spoke of how he was deployed to the Nova festival area and found that for a period he was the only medic on site. He had to triage the injured and accept that he could not save everyone, but who would have the best chance.

One young woman survived after hiding inside one of the catering fridges. She was lucky twice; first that the terrorists didn’t open her fridge like they did others, and second that they looted the generator powering the fridges so she didn’t die of hypothemia.

Then his joy at discovering that another young woman he had worked on not only recovered but was pleased to meet him.

We were coming to the end of the exhibition. There was information about the work of the Tribe of Nova Foundation, Sports therapy and other programmes, and some fund raising merchandise. We were greeted by a steward who thanked us very sincerely for coming and invited us to attend a talk by one of their survivor delegates in the Healing Room.

He started with his early life. His childhood was happy but his excess energy meant he was not successful at school. However with a notebook of encouragement from his mother he did well in his National Service in the IDF, including a tour in Gaza in 2021, although it wasn’t easy.  But he did find a sense of belonging in music and the festival culture.  Having completed his service he went travelling for a year as is common and returned to Israel to work with young people preparing them for their National service.

After a few months he found himself at a loose end one weekend and a friend gave him a spare ticket for the Nova festival.  He borrowed his sister’s car and set off and was having a wonderful time.  Until the dawn alert of the rocket attack. I’m used to rockets he said, I have confidence in Iron dome so I set off back to return my sister’s car, wondering if there would be any refund. Then he thought, ‘That is wrong. What is that man doing in the road?’ He was shot,  badly injured. A woman nearby was dead. Then he noticed the bomb shelter of the nearby kibbutz. When he got near he found that most of the occupants who had been sheltering from the rockets were dead or injured. They thought the terrorists, in camouflage fatigues not civilian clothes were the IDF. The terrorists lobbed in grenages then followed up shooting.

He says that was the turning point. For a split second he thought, should I flee and save myself? But it would be both against his childhood teaching and everything he had been taught in the IDF

You do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbour.

And I think the question, who is my neighbour? is the same answer for us all.

Some police turned up – so he asked them for a spare gun – any sort.  And found himself organising the police into assessment, removal and evacuation of the wounded.  His final task was to take a man missing both legs to a first aid station. He drove holding his hand, trying to keep him conscious. At which he remembered the first man by the road. But it was too late to turn back. Neither man survived and he has had to work hard to forgive himself for his failure.

The following day he was back in uniform with his reserve unit receiving refresher training.  He served 4 tours of duty, one of which was in Lebanon. But then he realised he was no longer himself. To deal with it he drank heavily and other substances which did him no good. But then he found the Tribe of Nova and their therapy programmes and they have helped him enormously with his PTSD. Which means he can still help young boys with their pre-national service preparation.

He is now sober and with the help of Nova and his family has a future.
It was interesting to hear because post combat PTSD is a concern for servicemen and woman in any army in modern conflict.

The concluding words of Oz the steward was ways to support Nova, of which the first was to encourage our friends to visit the exhibition themselves.

And therefore I encourage any of you within easy reach of London to attend. Or if it comes next to a city nearer you.

It had a very good effect on this young woman last year.

A student who switched from pro-Palestine campaigning after meeting with survivors of the October 7 massacre has warned GB News viewers of the lack of critical thinking inside elite universities.

Taryn Thomas, 21, who studies at Stanford University, attended the Nova Exhibition, which documents the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival.

After experiencing the event, the student blamed university culture for spreading “propaganda” on her past “very pro-Palestine” stance on the conflict.

She said: “The most dangerous graduate is just the one that’s never been able to question their own beliefs. They’re going to be our next politicians, they’re going to be our next leaders, and unfortunately, we need to have people be able to go against the grain.”

“Everything I’ve ever spoken felt just fraudulent. The distance that Stanford provides, we never had to get close to the bloodshed and see it in front of us. I realised how gruesome it was.

“I saw half-written goodbye messages and last I love yous to parents, and saw kids my age dancing and fleeing for their lives. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing.”

The Stanford student also claimed that the prestigious institution was holding a “stop the genocide” encampment a week before any Israeli soldiers had even entered Gaza.

Due to her perceptions, Ms Thomas decided to visit the Nova Exhibition in October 2024, where she intended to expose the “propaganda”.

“I didn’t come with an open mind, I came looking for propaganda. But there is no propaganda in a classroom message from a dying girl.”

The student highlighted an audio recording of a Hamas attacker celebrating having killed ten Jews with his bare hands, followed by his father offering congratulations, as a major turning point in her position changing.

She said: “This was who we were calling the resistance. We always said we were anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic, but he was saying he killed Jews with his hands.”