Noa Kalash is a 23-year-old survivor of the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Sarah Jackson is an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor who fled German-occupied Poland with her family during World War II. Despite the 66 years between them, both women feel strongly that the Jewish people are once again in a war for their survival.
In a recent interview with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, they expressed the shock they felt after Oct. 7 and the overwhelming sadness that came shortly after with the realization that the antisemitism that reared its ugly head in the early 1940s is alive and well in our world.
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“It’s disappointing because I honestly thought that this is a different era,” Miss Kalash said. “Israel is a modern and amazing country and we give the world a lot, and I honestly thought that antisemitism no longer exist, at least not in the same way.”
Miss Kalash was able to enjoy the Nova music festival for all of 15 minutes before the bombing started on the morning of Oct. 7. Party organizers told people to go home, but no one got very far before the Hamas terrorists started advancing on every side.
“[I] didn’t know what to do because there were terrorists all over the place. They closed [in on] us from every direction possible,” she recounted, noting that she and a friend hid in a bush for eight hours wondering if each moment would be their last. “I’ve lost two of my best friends. Um, three, actually. And another one, which was kidnapped. And she’s still there. Her name is Romi Gonen. She’s such a beautiful young girl. All of them, just beautiful young people who wanted to celebrate life.”
SEE ALSO: Holocaust Remembrance Day: Israel is a nation of survivors
More than 1,200 people, the vast majority of them Jews, were killed that day, including 260 at the music festival. And while those numbers pale in comparison to the six million European Jews that were slaughtered during World War II, Holocaust survivor Sarah Jackson said the most recent terrorist attack, which forced her to abandon her home, brought back a lot of memories.
“After the war, I said, ‘Now it will never happen again, never will anybody be against us,’” Ms. Jackson explained. “I can’t believe that it happened, it happens again. I never dreamt that I’ll have to leave my home for three months.”
Ms. Jackson was just four years old when her hometown of Tomaszów Lubelski in Poland was bombed by the Germans. Shortly after, her family fled to a nearby town and took a train east as far as it would go. They spent the rest of the war in a labor camp in Siberia living like prisoners, but at least they stayed alive.
“We didn’t know very much what’s happening in Poland,” Ms. Jackson said. “When the war finished, people asked, ‘What’s with the Jews?’ They said, ‘Jews? There’s no more Jews in Europe.’”
After World War II, the world promised to “Never Again” stand by and allow the mass slaughtering of the Jewish people. But survivors of Oct. 7 are coming to learn that history sometimes has a nasty way of repeating itself.
“The evil is starting to wake up… You can see it on the streets, in the most safe spaces. I mean, I don’t want to walk around the world and needing to be ashamed of my Jewish identity.” Miss Kalash said. “[This war is] about fighting pure evil. And you can see it everywhere. It’s happening. It’s just a matter of time and we need to take action … Israel may be the first one, but the world is next.”
SEE ALSO: WATCH: Holocaust survivor shares story of survival, warns against dangers of antisemitism
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Marissa Mayer is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her work has been featured in Christian Post, The Daily Signal, and Intellectual Takeout. Mayer has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Arizona State University.
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