The Heroes of Moshav Netiv HaAsara

Recently, Louise and I visited Israel to visit with our ministry partners and staff, to encourage them in the amazing work that they do to reach our Jewish people in Israel during these very difficult days.

We also had the opportunity to visit with Israeli backpackers that we have hosted here in Australia. It was such a joy to meet them in Israel and to be introduced to their parents. The wonderful friendships that we have formed through hosting continues to bear fruit in Israel.

Israel is a country in mourning and in various stages of deep trauma. Everyone we met were so encouraged that believers in Australia are praying for them. We visited soldiers in hospital that had been injured in battle and we were able to say to them, with all sincerity, “when this is over, come visit Australia and we will look after you.” It meant so much to them and I know that Australia will be a place for healing for them through our ZulaRoo Surf House in Apollo Bay, and our Host Israelis Network across Australia.

Israelis, at the moment, are like sponges lapping up any love, comfort and encouragement they can get. It was the most moving trip that Louise and I have had in Israel.

Dear friends, as we approach the one year anniversary of the 7th of October attack, we offer this special edition newsletter “The Heroes of Moshav Netiv HaAsara.”

On one of the days, we had the opportunity to visit a moshav¹ a few hundred feet from the border with Gaza. This community is called Netiv HaAsara, which means “the path of the ten” and reflects how the community was formed. The name comes from the ten soldiers who tragically lost their lives in a helicopter crash in 1971 in the Gazan town of Rafah. Netiv HaAsara is known for its various peace initiatives, and prior to October 7, many Gazans lived in the village and worked alongside the locals in different capacities.

MOSHAV NETIV HAASARA
This moshav was created so families who wanted to make peace with Palestinians could intentionally live on the border to be close to their neighbours in Gaza. The families of the moshav created something called “The Peace Wall” (pictured on the cover), where people could paint bright colours as a symbol of their hopes for peace in the region.² The moshav was established in 1982 and had close to 1,000 individuals living on the land owned by the community. In 2005, with the disengagement of Israel from Gaza, it became the closest Israeli community to the Gaza Strip.

The story of what happened at the moshav on October 7, 2023, is well known: thirty-five Hamas terrorists attacked the community and killed at least twenty people. Their security team fought valiantly, but three of them were murdered during the attack. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were able to save the rest of the people on the moshav once they arrived, about six hours after the attack started. They either arrested or killed the remaining Hamas terrorists.

Our new friend Avi, who drove one of the vehicles for our staff, was one of the first to see the paragliders land in the centre of the community.³ We kept in touch with Avi after our staff trip, and he invited us to visit the moshav to hear his story. He showed us around to see where the gliders came in and the homes where his neighbours were killed. Avi even took some time to tell us the story of this morning of terror.

AVI’S STORY OF OCTOBER 7
Now, please take a few moments and try to imagine what it was like for the members of this moshav on the Gaza border, surrounded by security walls and barbed wire fences as well as lush terrain growing beautiful roses, olives, and fruit trees. It was very sad to hear how their hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict with Gaza was crushed by the brutality of the attacks of October 7.

HERE IS AVI’S STORY IN HIS OWN WORDS:

At 6:00 in the morning, like always, I woke up to take the dog for a walk. At around 6:20, I heard the sound of small firearms. There was also the sound of rocket fire, and not the typical ones you hear. It’s usually one rocket or two rockets, but now there were a lot of rockets.

I thought it was a reaction, maybe to an IDF operation where maybe we took out one of the leaders like Sinwar,⁴ and they’re upset, so they’re firing. But it was something very unusual, something unexpected, this amount of rocket attacks. It didn’t stop. It just kept coming and coming and coming. Normally, we have a rocket or two, or maybe four or five, and then it stops, but it was wave after wave after wave.

Then I understood. I heard the sound of a motor of some kind of aerial vehicle. The first thing I did is I called the security manager for the moshav, but he didn’t answer, so then I called the local IDF coordinator, but he also didn’t answer. And then I heard another motor from another aerial vehicle coming up. So I said to myself, “I have to do something. I’m going to film it.” And so, I started recording it.

So when I started filming the second glider, I realized the first terrorist had already landed and was walking around in the moshav. I wanted to see where the terrorist was going to land so that I could report it to the security squad protecting the moshav. But the terrorist saw me and changed his direction so that I wouldn’t be able to identify where he landed. He probably thought I had a weapon, but I didn’t have any weapons at the time.

I continued to try to call and inform people, and the only one I could reach by phone was my neighbour who said, “I’m not at home, I’m up at the Sea of Galilee.” So I came home and I told my wife and kids to stay home, to stay inside. I didn’t tell them that there were terrorists loose in the moshav. I didn’t want them to be stressed by the situation.
I continued to try to reach people unsuccessfully, and then suddenly there was no water or electricity.

And of course, no internet either. The telephone was hardly working, but WhatsApp⁵ was somehow working. As soon as the terrorists landed, within a few minutes, there was constant gunfire.

I heard the firing all around me and at houses nearby and at the house across the street.

I left the bomb shelter because I thought if they’re going to come toward me, I could interact better with them outside than inside the bomb shelter where I can’t do anything. So I left with a knife and a fishing spear gun, as that’s all I had. For some reason the terrorists didn’t come to my house.

The children of my landlord who lived nearby called me because their mom, my landlord, wasn’t answering the phone. They were concerned for her. So, I went to her house. I tried to hide because I wasn’t well armed. So, I was trying to get over there without being seen. The reason I was hiding was not because I was afraid of being seen by the terrorists. I was afraid of being misidentified by the army as a terrorist, so I was hiding. I totally expected the army to be here already, but they didn’t come for hours!

I arrived at my landlady’s house, but she wasn’t there. I didn’t find her in the house, and I didn’t think to look in the bomb shelter. I looked on the street because she’s an older woman. I thought maybe she had fallen or something, but I didn’t see her, and I didn’t want to cross the street.

I didn’t want to be out exposed for too long. I was sure that the army was coming, and they would interact and engage these terrorists, but the army didn’t come so I came home.

When I got home, I was able to finally reach the IDF security coordinator for the area, but our connection was in and out. Sometimes the phone lines would drop, so I used a combination of phones and WhatsApp messages back and forth, and I finally got a hold of somebody. Then I started to relax a bit.

I knew or at least had some idea of what the terrorists were doing because first of all, you could not only hear it, but you could also smell it. But also on the WhatsApp messages, I was getting updates from the security squads about where the terrorists were going and what they were doing. And so I knew more or less what was going on around me as they burned a few houses, and you could smell the smoke.

At 9:00 or 10:00 am more terrorists arrived, in addition to the original thirty. They were armed. One of them even had a bulletproof vest; they came to steal and then to kill. The security team of the moshav captured them but didn’t kill them. They transferred them for interrogation.

Tactical units and the border patrol came in the afternoon, and I understood that the situation was more or less under control, but they didn’t leave because there was still fighting all around them in some of the other towns in the area. And we stayed in our bomb shelter until 5:30 or 6:00 at night, so for about twelve hours.

I heard (but can’t verify the authenticity of it) that the IDF listened to the recordings of the conversations between the terrorists and their leaders back in Gaza, and that they had originally planned to destroy the border wall and completely take over our moshav and kill all of us.
But when the terrorists came and started killing people, they found hardly anyone in their homes or walking the street and reported back that they killed everyone that was here, and that the village was now unoccupied. And so, they decided not to break the wall and completely invade. About 1,000 people were in their bomb shelters. So when the terrorists came, they didn’t see anyone, but whenever they found somebody in a safe room, or a bomb shelter, they threw grenades inside and kept going.

I found out the terrorists had all taken a particular drug (Captagon)⁶ that removed their fear. It also affected their reasoning and their logic, which is why they may have reported that the town was empty, when in fact, they did meet people, and they knew they were in bomb shelters, but they reported that the town was empty. This drug is big business for Hezbollah in Lebanon. They sell it all over the Middle East. It’s a cheap drug to make, and they make a lot of money on it, and it’s very popular in the West Bank. So it’s hard to know what really happened and why we seemed to be protected from additional murders.

All of this is very unfortunate as I worked regularly with Gazans, and they work really hard. One Gazan worker equalled three regular workers. I don’t know if there’s going to be peace or not, but I don’t hate them. Okay, those who committed atrocities, like murder and rape, there’s no question they just need to be eliminated. But at the end of the day, there’s still going to be two million Gazans.

I then asked Avi about his view of the future of the moshav. He continued,

First of all, we have to eliminate Hamas. That’s the first thing. And then whatever happens, it’s politics. We can’t know. But what we do know is we have to eliminate Hamas. They’re fanatics and they’re murderers, and they need to be removed.

I further asked Avi if he believed the moshav would return to normal and the hundreds of people who used to live there would return to their homes. He simply answered, “Yes, I hope so!” I was greatly moved by his hope and by his bravery. He is a hero and shows the determination of Israelis to survive and thrive even when facing seemingly unsolvable conflict.

A CALL TO PRAYER
So, how can we pray for Avi, his family, and the members of this beautiful moshav where its members were so hopeful to create peace between Gazans and Israelis?

We can pray for the families of those who were murdered. We can pray God will keep terrorists from attacking once again. And most of all, please pray Avi, his family, and many others at the moshav who dreamed about peace will find true and lasting peace through the Prince of Peace, Yeshua our Messiah.

As the psalmist wrote, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you’” (Psalm 122:6).

Thank you for your support, which enables us to help friends like Avi, our outreach workers in Israel and here in Australia, as we bring a message of comfort for our people (Isaiah 40:1) and as we share the good news of hope and peace through the Messiah Yeshua “to the Jew first” and also to the Gentiles (Romans 1:16)!

Your support will also help us provide a safe place for Israelis visiting Australia, enable us to reach out to them in love, providing hospitality and words of comfort and encouragement at this time.

Please pray for Israel and Jewish people all around the world. Please enable us through your support to continue to share the good news with our Jewish people. And take a moment to reach out to Jewish people that you know, assuring them of your love, prayers and support.

Blessings,

Lawrence Hirsch
Executive Director of Celebrate Messiah

Avi gave us his permission to record and tell the story of what happened at Moshav Netiv HaAsara on October 7. You can read his story or watch the video of his story.

¹ A moshav is similar to a kibbutz but allows for private ownership of property among some other key differences.
² “Another inspiring project in Netiv Ha‘Asara is ‘The Path to Peace’ project led by artist Tsameret Zamir. The project transformed a once-plain security wall into a colourful canvas of hope by placing colourful brushstrokes bearing positive messages on the wall. Each stroke of paint symbolized hope for a peaceful future. It was a poignant reminder how, even in the shadow of conflict, the people of Netiv Ha‘Asara were dedicated to the pursuit of peace, one brushstroke at a time” (Kim Paffen, “Life near the Gaza Border: Living amid Ongoing Gaza-Israel Conflict,” Our Planet in My Lens, October 8, 2023, https://ourplanetinmylens.com/life-near-the-gaza-border/).
³ Hamas terrorists used paragliders on October 7, 2023 to get over the border fence into Israel.
⁴ Yahya Sinwar has been the leader of Hamas in Gaza since 2017.
⁵ A mobile application popular in Israel and many other countries, WhatsApp supports instant messaging and phone calls through the internet.
⁶ Joseph Pergolizzi Jr., et al. “The Emergence of the Old Drug Captagon As a New Illicit Drug: A Narrative Re-view,” Cureus 16 (2), Feb. 2024, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10977473/.