*Chaos and Crossfire at the Music Festival* **
* Confusion * One reason why it is difficult to work out what went on at the music festival at Re’im on 7 October is the confusion, both “macro” and “micro.” What we might call “macro,” or all pervading confusion lies in several facts, first, that as it is now accepted Hamas did not intend to target the music festival that was moved at the last minute, second, that they clearly did intend to target the nearby military base at Re’im where the Gaza division was based, and as well, most probably the kibbutzim to the North at Be’eri and to the South at Re’im where it seems the primary intention was to take captives, third, that many festival goers were on drugs, 1 and hardly in a fit state to drive or think clearly. We take it that this “macro” confusion was of a piece with the general confusion described by Yoav Zitun and Ronen Bergman for YNet, “ Dark Times ,” 12 January. Drawing on first hand military sources, the general picture was of shocked surprise and a failure to appreciate the scale of the attack - explaining somewhat the absence of the army, a burning question for many Israelis. The article tended to pass over what happened at the rave, but the authors explained that in attacking the military bases Hamas anticipated that reinforcements would be sent, and so planned to ambush these military targets (something that Israel only gradually appreciated), so presumably Hamas were on the road - the 232 that runs roughly North-South past the Nova site to the West - with that intention. This road runs past both Be’eri and the Re’im military base, and is the only main road in the area. Here we understand that, when rockets (not gunfire) was heard at 6.30 the order was given to evacuate, so that many of the 4,400 or so party-goers escaped in the first half an hour, though by 7.00, it seems, gunfire was heard close to the Nova site. Maybe the bulk of let us say 2,000 cars were on the road promptly (it would transpire that under 500 cars were abandoned or damaged in the area), as were many Hamas trucks, something that neither group had catered for. Hence the recipe for enormous chaos and confusion. 2 Within this general context we can find multiple instances of “micro” confusion. First, as we have argued , several people thought that Hamas were dressed in police uniform, and the police even spread this story, so that when a tank 3 passed by Roee S even thought it must have been full of terrorists - persisting in this delusion when writing up the testimony. Here we can add that we cited Vlada Patapov, the “Lady in Red,” as someone who said that Hamas dressed as Israeli police were shooting at Israelis, though in another account , two days after the event (published 11 October), Vlada did not mention this instance of perfidy/friendly fire. 4 Patapov even claims to have spent hours at the Re’im military base. “We were there from morning until night. There were hardly any forces on base because of the weekend. Soldiers were walking around in pyjamas. The soldiers told us that if we wanted to leave, we could drive 4 Patapov also claims, hesitantly in the earlier version, and more confidently in the later interview, that Hamas fighters also fell to “friendly” fire. 3 The truth about this tank, incidentally, appears to be astonishingly convoluted, as we argued here. 2 A confusion that remains after the traumatic events, see Danielle S , Chanel B , Eyal G 1 According to Sharshalom Y , Eyal G , or have our parents pick us up. They didn’t offer any protection or other transportation. I don’t blame them, no one knew what was going on at that point.” This is hard to square with Zitun and Bergman who revealed that Tel Aviv was informed that the Gaza Division had fallen at 8 am. Again, Patapov was slightly delayed in leaving, something that she credits with saving here life, an understanding shared with Roni S. But this is hard to square with the claims that most of the party-goers escaped early on, something that surely makes sense as we suppose that the cars that got away did so before the cars that didn’t were abandoned. There again, some people were confused as to where they had parked their cars, that wouldn’t always start. Some went on to abandon their vehicles, either because the police asked them to , or else because other drivers did, while others wanted to get out because they were shot at, thinking it would be safer on foot. Even so, some then got back into their vehicles, whether on the road or in the field into which an iconic video shows people fleeing (with Vlada dressed in a red shawl). The field ran to the East alongside the 232, but there is another road that we will call the “ tree line road ,” running roughly West-East, turning off from the 232 at a place North of the Nova site, and the field was South of this. From reading testimonies it seems that some people managed to drive out of the Nova site, negotiating the traffic jam and the police blockade that at some stage prevented traffic travelling North up the 232 so that it had to travel East, only to meet a mess of cars on on the tree line road (because Hamas were ahead of them), so that they then fled South into the field. Again, others drove South and did a U-turn when they encountered Hamas, 5 and others just accelerated through the terrorists, and others kept going back and forth when they discovered terrorists everywhere. Obviously, people on foot, “ running in every direction ,” were confused, and generally, many wondered when help was going to arrive. The police were also described as not giving instructions 6 and “confused,” 7 so that Ori C who had decided to go to Patish (where it transpires that several hundred were directed to go) argued with an officer who was against the idea, and others said that when the police set up road blocks these were bypassed by some drivers. All this amid noise levels that began with the rockets, 8 and became even more deafening - and which from about noon would have involved heavy fire from Israeli helicopters and artillery. Add to this the sound of both Hebrew and Arabic speech, and the sound of confused people. It should be acknowledged that the (very young and scared) Hamas militants would have likely been confused as, assuming that they were on the 232 for some other purpose, they could have hardly have expected a mass flux of over 1,000 cars that morning (and even early on both helicopters and tanks were present, one tank disabled by Hamas driving “crazily” over parked cars - in one version of a very confused account). 8 See also, Gal B. 7 According to Sharshalom Y 6 At times internet and phone reception was down: Ninel K , Agam Y , Ron S , Eyal G 5 See Gal B , Laura KB , Roni S , Eden S , Roi A , Omer BD , Natalya K , Ron S , Ori C , Izik B , Ido M , Rotem A , Adi B , Carmel SL , Ninel K 1 2. Crossfire William Van Wagenen for The Cradle has written How Israeli forces trapped and killed ravers at the Nova Festival. He raises the question of Israeli crossfire, even claiming that this caused most of the fatalities. That’s very difficult to verify, 9 but we can at least explore the question of the crossfire. We can begin critically. Van Wagenen writes: Another witness, Shye Weinstein, also confirms the Israeli police roadblocks that blocked the main exit from the festival. He took photos of a Border Police vehicle and a heavily armed policeman in combat gear impeding the road in front of his car. Certainly, Wagenen has a point regarding what Weinstein caught on camera, but it is not quite clear when exactly that particular photo was taken, or how far away from the Nova site he was at the time. The article continues: A cell phone video f rom a concert attendee shows Israeli police and security forces using their vehicles to block the road near the festival site and exchanging fire with Hamas fighters. The video in the Mail via OsintTechnical does seem to show lightly armed police, but Van Wagenen then notes that party-goers fled across the fields to the East: But body cam footage shows heavily armed Israeli police units taking up positions on the road and firing across the open field into the trees where civilians had taken cover. However, it is not clear from this video that any footage relates to the morning, as the timing of some clips show that the more heavily armed troops were present in the afternoon. That seems to be the general impression reading witness statements, 10 where the absence of the army was often noted and at 12 seconds the footage of special forces shows shadows pointing in the direction of the field, that is, East, meaning it was early afternoon. On the other hand, the security officers claimed (to Kan ) that the IDF arrived at 10.30, and from this source we learn that “there were 27 policemen and 80 security guards there.” The security officer explained that an “operational war room was set up,” but that the terrorists “arrived at the command post area” so that they had to get out, en route noticing “dozens of bodies on the road with gunshot and burned vehicles” as well as a tank. 11 The hours just before noon seem to be significant. At 10.17 Ben Rudaeff , who was hiding in the bushes, took footage of smoke rising from the Nova site, and we have argued that it was around this time that the helicopters were active. 11 On which we have this study: The Tank at the Rave. 10 The only exception that we have found relates to the curious remark of Gal B :“ We keep running. In my sprint, I see a high commanding IDF commander. As if by reflex, I ask myself why a high ranking officer is here so quickly. I truly have no concept of the time that has passed since the event started. It's funny where your mind goes in moments like these. It's about 8 in the morning, and we still have no idea what's happening.” 9 We think that Van Wagenen has a more measured statement in: What Really Happened on October 7? | The Libertarian Institute 2 https://www.academia.edu/115297683/Chaos_and_Crossfire_at_the_Music_Festival?email_work_card=view-paper ( https://www.academia.edu/115297683/Chaos_and_Crossfire_at_the_Music_Festival?email_work_card=view-paper ) Dr abrahim Weizfeld Phd UQÀM, MA York U., BSc UdeW [email protected] ( [email protected] ) 514-284- 6642 Montréal 514-235-7187 Mobile +970 (0)569 538 169 Nablus, Palestine -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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