Relatives of victims and survivors of Israel bombings call for hostages to be returned on first anniversary of massacre
On the first anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, the Jewish community and the Israeli Embassy pay tribute to the victims and call for justice
A lot of emotion, pain in remembering the victims and two unanimous demands: that the kidnap victims be returned to their homes and that this never happen again. This is the summary of the emotional tribute paid in Madrid to the victims of the Hamas terrorist massacre in Israel, on the first anniversary of the tragedy.
- Commemoration of the victims and hostages
- Israeli Embassy
- Shani Louk's family
- Carmel Efron, survivor
- The two Spanish victims
- Federation of Jewish Communities
Organised by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, with the support of the Israeli Embassy, the hall of the Intercontinental Hotel where the tribute was held was barely large enough to accommodate the hundreds of attendees.
On the stage, a screen with images of the victims presided over the room, and two empty chairs, those of Maya Villalobos and Iván Illarramendi, the two Spanish citizens murdered by Hamas, staged the tremendous emptiness of their absence.
Commemoration of the victims and hostages
The event began with violin music by Pau Casals, followed by a reminder of the chilling events: hundreds of rockets fired from Gaza streaked across Israel's skies as hordes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists stormed its borders.
A perfectly planned and executed attack, broadcast live, that left appalling images and more than 1,200 casualties and 251 hostages, 101 of whom are still being held by the terrorists.
As the various speakers throughout the event recalled, it was the largest massacre suffered by the Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust.
The introductory video showed the stark images of what happened that day, including videos recorded by the victims themselves and even telephone conversations in which they said goodbye to their loved ones in the knowledge that they would never see them again.
Israeli Embassy
On behalf of the Israeli Embassy in Spain, its Minister Counsellor, Dan Poraz, recalled that among the victims of the attacks were also people of other religious denominations and other nationalities, including two Spaniards, Maya and Ivan.
Poraz noted that ‘the carnage did not end that day, but spread, as Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel: Iran and its allies ignited the ring of fire they had established around our borders’.
In Poraz's words, ‘this scar that opened in our hearts has not yet begun to heal, because hundreds of our brothers are still being tortured in the darkness of Gaza's tunnels. And it will not heal until the dead are returned to us so that we can bury them, and the living so that they can recover’.
The embassy representative used the slogan ‘We will dance again’, used by the survivors of the Nova festival to remember the 383 killed and the 44 abducted, and ended his speech with a prayer: ‘The Lord will give strength to his people and bless them with peace. We will never stop believing in peace’.
The Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Spain, Moshe Bendahan, then intoned a funeral prayer in memory of the victims.
Shani Louk's family
The most moving moments of the tribute were undoubtedly the speeches by the families of the victims of the attacks. Nissim Louk, father of Shani Louk, gave a chilling account of how his family lived through those terrible hours until they received confirmation of his daughter's death.
With great fortitude, Louk recounted how another of his daughters saw on television the terrible images of Shani's body being dragged into a van, and recalled the front pages of many European newspapers the following day, which featured an earlier photo of Shani alongside the image released by Hamas: ‘this double image represents good and evil, light and darkness, and is a warning to the world, a sign to all humanity’.
Louk concluded with a reflection addressed to politicians: ‘What Hamas has done costs a lot of money and poor countries like Lebanon, Gaza or Yemen receive funds from Iran. You have to watch where the money goes, because the terrorists are already in Europe, and if Israel falls, the Western world and Christianity will fall too: watch where your money and diplomacy goes. And if you are in doubt, remember these images’.
Carmel Efron, survivor
Equally moving was the testimony of Carmel Efron, one of the survivors of the Nova festival attendees, who recounted how the Hamas attack began and the terrible hours they lived through until they were rescued and brought to safety: ‘I had already made up my mind that I was going to die, and I asked God to take care of my daughter, because I was sure I would never see her again’.
Efron said that ‘I saw the face of evil, how they enjoyed killing and torturing, without humanity, without heart... I will never forget it’.
Carmel Efron remembered the 101 hostages still held by Hamas - ‘we have to do everything we can to bring them home’ - and concluded: ‘I am alive thanks to God and I will do everything I can to protect my country, my family and my friends. Light will triumph over darkness’.
The two Spanish victims
The relatives of the two Spanish victims of the attacks, Maya Villalobos and Ivan Illarramendi, then spoke.
Eduardo Villalobos, Maya's father, left a video recording of his speech, as at the time of this event in Madrid he was taking part in a tribute to his daughter in Israel.
Eduardo emotionally remembered Maya, who was doing her compulsory military service in a barracks near the border, which was raided by terrorists. ‘She died surrounded by love and that consoles me, although the pain does not end,’ he said.
Ander Illarramendi, brother of Ivan, the other Spanish victim, was present. Ivan read out the anguished messages his brother sent him when his house, in one of the kibbutz attacked, was surrounded by terrorists, and recalled the anguish and anger of not knowing what had happened to his brother and sister-in-law in the weeks that followed.
‘Hamas killed them with cruelty, they burnt the bodies, the house, the car... everything. We don't understand how there are people capable of doing that’, he explained. He also sent a clear message: ‘We will fight until we find justice, peace and security for all, and to bring the hostages home. We will end this once and for all’.
Federation of Jewish Communities
The last to speak was David Obadía, elected a few months ago as president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, who denounced the misinformation, ignorance, anti-Semitism and hatred that nest in Spanish society: ‘I never tire of repeating that we are Spaniards of the Jewish religion and that we have the right to live in peace and security’.
Obadía also lamented ‘how quickly we have forgotten in Spain what happened to the hostages’ and called for ‘a greater commitment to end anti-Semitism and xenophobia’, before recalling the upcoming celebration of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is one of the main holidays of the Jewish religion.
The ceremony concluded with the playing of the national anthems of Spain and Israel.
