The Nova Music Festival was supposed to be Moran Stella Yanai’s “big start” in creating and selling jewelry in Israel.
Instead, the Oct. 7 festival became a nightmare when Yanai was abducted by Hamas terrorists while fleeing the group’s attack and held hostage for 54 days. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Yanai, 41, is one of only a few hostages to speak publicly about the ordeal and is the first to speak in Colorado, according to organizers with Chabad of South Denver.
She recounted her experience to nearly 200 people at the BMH-BJ Congregation in Denver’s Washington Virginia Vale neighborhood on Wednesday night.
Yanai was among the 250 people abducted by Hamas-led forces in an attack that killed an estimated 1,200 people and sparked the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, according to The Associated Press. About 100 people are still being held hostage, and a third of those are believed to be dead.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to estimates from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian casualties.
Nova was the first festival Yanai attended, and she recalled admiring a sunrise shortly before rockets began firing over the event.
“It was complete chaos,” she said. “Half of the people were running and screaming, some were walking, some were dancing, some were laughing and I didn’t know the right one to choose.”
As the rockets continued, Yanai started to run and kept trying to escape for the next five hours before she broke her leg falling out of a tree and was captured by Hamas.
Yanai was moved between seven houses over the next 54 days and lost half of her hearing because of the near-constant bombardment. She described being beaten, punished for showing emotion, denied food and not being allowed to leave a mattress or speak.
“I didn’t feel the pain of the beating, I didn’t feel the fractures because I had to concentrate on one thing and one thing only — to survive,” she said.
Focusing on moment-by-moment survival and signs of hope and faith were what kept her going, Yanai told the crowd.
“It taught me, even in hell on Earth, I can see the good,” she said. “I learned I’m very strong — that us women are so strong.”
Yanai said she is now committed to doing everything she can to bring home the remaining hostages and urged others to do the same.
“You have a responsibility as well, each and every one of you,” she said. “If this Nova story will not end differently, then nobody is safe. You need to choose what world you want your children to inherit.”
Her words were echoed by Rabbi Avraham Mintz of the Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver, who addressed the group before Yanai spoke.
“We have to continue doing everything we can to bring every one of our brothers and sisters home and bring an end to the pain and suffering,” Mintz said.
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