For American survivors of the October 7 Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival in Israel, gratitude is on the menu this Thanksgiving.
Natalie Sanandaji and Lee Sasi survived the shocking terrorist attack at the “unity” festival near Kibbutz Re’im on the Gaza border, which left 260 dead and dozens hostage.
“I’m going to be so grateful for the fact that God gave me a second chance at life,” said Natalie Sanandaji, who lives with her parents in Great Neck, LI, and survived a harrowing and “endless” four-hour escape. . – “Being shot and rockets exploding over your head” – until she was rescued by a stranger who helped her load people into her truck.
“I will be thinking about the purpose of that and what purpose I want to give to my life. After getting a second chance like this, I need to make sense of it.”
The holiday highlights blessings and what it means to be alive, said the 28-year-old, who recalled running frantically and not knowing if it was in the direction that would save her or lead to her death.
Long Island native Natalie Sanandaji survived the terrorist attack that left 260 dead.
“It definitely gives gratitude a whole new meaning. This year I really have a lot to be grateful for.”
It will be a double celebration for Sanandaji, who will join six friends, some of whom he has not seen since before the massacre, for a Wednesday “Friendsgiving,” complete with wine and games, followed by a day of Thanksgiving.” don’t worry”. with a turkey stuffed with Persian-style rice with her parents in Great Neck.
“After everything that’s happened, I really want to be with the people closest to me and take the time to appreciate those relationships, rather than doing something big,” said Sanandaji, an only child. “After all the chaos that has been going on during and after the attack, I want something calm and peaceful.”
Even with a quieter celebration than usual – “always big, always laughing and cheerful” with lots of friends and cousins around – Thanksgiving is sure to have more meaning.
“They hardly saw me again; it’s a very intense thing to think about.”
The personal belongings of attendees at the Nova music festival after the attackREUTERS
Between cooking and reconnecting, there will be a serious balance.
“It’s going to be very happy for me and my mom because of the fact that we didn’t get lost, but in some ways it’s going to be very bittersweet,” he said, hoping to think about the other festival-goers. dancing alongside you who are now trapped in Gaza or killed and their parents cannot celebrate the holiday with them.
“Many Americans lost their lives or were kidnapped and their parents will not be able to hug them and laugh with them during the holidays,” he said. “I think about how lucky I am to survive, but I think about all the other families.”
Now he sees life differently.
Lee Sasi and his uncle Avi, who was murdered, at the festival near Kibbutz Re’im. Courtesy of Lee Sasi
Since returning home, she has left her job in real estate to dedicate herself full-time to the defense of Jews and Israel as a public affairs officer for the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement (CAM), a job that leads her to give conferences throughout the country.
“Before, I really lived in the moment,” she said, noting that it’s a quality she liked about herself. “But I am happy to be able to give more meaning to my life. Before I didn’t necessarily have a purpose or something I was passionate about, and now I do.”
Giving thanks also takes on a whole new meaning for 25-year-old Lee Sasi. It has been just six weeks since she hid under a pile of bodies for hours in a bomb shelter before being rescued.
The air raid shelter where Sasi was hiding for seven hours, under corpses. Courtesy of Lee Sasi
“I’m so excited for Thanksgiving,” she told The Post. “It will be a special dinner, just being with my loved ones and being grateful to be alive.”
The Los Angeles native attended the music festival in a group of seven.
The rockets started raining around 6:30 in the morning, he recalled. Sasi and some members of her group arrived at a nearby bomb shelter that she remembered seeing on the way to the festival. About 40 people crowded into the “five by eight foot” structure that seats about eight people.
Sasi said the bodies inside the shelter kept her alive. Courtesy of Lee Sasi
For seven hours he took advantage of “survival mode” and avoided grenades, role-playing games and the constant rain of “thousands” of gunshots. Aside from the explosions “ruining my ears,” Sasi recalled that “the smoke from the grenade was choking me to death.”
The sound of the terrorists’ laughter during their massacre – “you could hear the joy in their voices, it was their euphoria” – will always remain with her.
“People were blown to pieces,” he said of the horrific deaths – some instantaneous, others lingering – from the impacts of the grenades the terrorists threw into the shelter.
Sasi saw her beloved uncle Avi “explode” while protecting her from the impact of a grenade.
“Hell is nothing compared to what I went through: I was in the womb of Satan,” he said.
She and two family members were among 10 survivors who left the shelter. Four of the friends and family she went to the festival with died.
“I am grateful to be alive. I’m grateful to be out of that bomb shelter; Those bodies saved my life.”
An avid chef, she’s looking forward to cooking for about 15 guests at her parents’ house this Thanksgiving, and is searching online for new recipes and preparing a menu that will include “fall-style foods” like green beans and roast beef. , “juicier” chickens (the turkey is “too dry”), yams and sweet potatoes.
“For me, cooking is a way to show my love and gratitude to others,” she said.
“I think Thanksgiving this year will be bittersweet,” Sasi said. “I’ll be grateful to be with my family, but you think, ‘Why were you the one who made it out alive?’ He hits you suddenly.” Courtesy of Lee Sasi
But the festivities will invariably be marred by “waves of ups and downs. I think Thanksgiving this year will be bittersweet,” Sasi said. “I’ll be grateful to be with my family, but you think, ‘Why were you the one who made it out alive?’ He hits you suddenly.”
“I see myself differently now,” she said, noting that she discovered a strength she didn’t know she had, lifting the spirits of others at the shelter, encouraging them not to give up.
“God made me survive that bomb shelter for a reason,” said Sasi, who had gotten engaged in Israel a month earlier but whose fiancé was not at the festival. “It was the best and worst moment of my life.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn