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Escaping the rocket attacks and gunfire from Hamas forces at the end of the Supernova open-air music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, Amit Ganish, a 24-year-old law student, found herself hiding out in a bush in an orchard with her best friend.
With the battery on her cellphone running low, Ganish texted her mother and her boyfriend that she loved them. She also sent pictures of the hideout, desperate to get the attention of authorities, even with the enemy roaming around.
Ganish, telling her harrowing tale at the Chabad Jewish Center in Springfield Sunday afternoon, said she remained resolute in her surroundings, even with being deprived of food and drink.
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“I told myself, ‘You will not die. The terrorists will not find you. You will fight. You will do what you need to do, but you will survive. I will survive for my family, for my boyfriend,'” Ganish told the 100 or so people gathered Sunday. “That was the decision that I took.”
After nine hours, a local farmer, credited with saving the lives of hundreds of music festivalgoers, coaxed Ganish and her friend, Zohar, out of hiding.
Walking out of the orchard, they were met with a phalanx of Israeli TV cameras. That’s how, Ganish said, her family learned that she had survived the ordeal.
This is Ganish’s second speaking tour in the U.S. since last year’s music festival attack, which claimed the lives of some 360 concertgoers. In all, nearly 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, included at least 43 Americans.
A documentary about the attack, “We Will Dance Again,” which will include the experiences and anecdotes of survivors like Ganish, is set to debut later this month.
The militant group’s attack triggered hostilities that have been felt region wide. The Gazan Health Ministry claimed over 40,000 Palestinians, fighters and civilians, have been killed in Gaza and around 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced. U.S. officials have been engaged in peace talks they hope can include a two-state solution.
“October 7 was a terrible reminder that the opposite of good — evil — is something that still exists in the world,” Rabbi Mendy Turen told the audience before Ganish’s remarks. “That’s something that we always have to remember. It’s something that has to be on our mind. Our job, of course, is to spread good, to spread light, to spread positivity to the world.”
Ganish, who lives just outside of Tel Aviv, said she had a premonition about the music festival, which drew around 3,500 people not far from Gaza, but decided to go anyway.
Ganish said she wasn’t panicked even as she saw rockets from Gaza in the early morning hours of Oct. 7. But as she was about to go to sleep after a night of dancing and partying, a voice warned of terrorists shooting.
Running towards the main road, Ganish, Zohar and her boyfriend got a ride from a stranger. Nine people crammed into the car, minus Zohar’s boyfriend, who they later learned was gunned down.
“One bullet went near my neck and another under my legs,” recalled Ganish, as she and her friend ditched the car and zig-zagged their way into the orchard.
Even there, they could hear enemy voices trying to pry them out, Ganish said.
Rami Davidian, a 58-year-old farmer from the area, finally got them out of hiding and to safety.
About a week after the experience, Ganish said she re-upped for the military.
Psychological counseling and the speaking engagements, cathartic in their own way, have helped Ganish deal with the trauma.
“It helps me a lot to share my story and get all this love and support from other Jewish communities,” Ganish told The State Journal-Register afterwards. “This is my honor to do it.”
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
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