Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke on Wednesday evening at the opening ceremony of the exhibition “6:29” at the Tel Aviv Expo in memory of those murdered at the Nova Festival on Oct. 7.
“It feels as though since that blackest of black Sabbaths of 7 October, there is not a single person in Israel whose heart does not miss a beat when the clock shows exactly 06:29 in the morning,” the president said.
“This hour is a fault line in time, a gaping wound for an entire people, an abyss that separates the world that preceded it, and the days, the burning months, into which we have fallen since,” he said.
The exhibition includes personal belongings of those who fled Hamas’s rampage at the festival, a rave party held about three miles from the Gaza Strip.
“When Michal and I first toured this moving exhibit, we saw the items and held them. To think that they were with those loved ones who came to rejoice and celebrate a love for music and dance,” Herzog said.
“The fragments of the party and the torn pieces of life lie here now as a silent testimony in memory of all the tremendous human beauty that was lost,” he said.
The Nova festival grounds have been recreated inside the expo center, with bullet-riddled toilet cubicles, burned-out cars and open tents. The names of those killed are projected on a wall of remembrance.
More than 350 civilians, mostly young people, were murdered at the party, some by gunfire, others by grenades. Some were killed while running toward terrorists whom they mistook for Israeli soldiers.
More and more stories of rape are emerging.
Herzog recalled the bravery unarmed civilians demonstrated during the attack.
“The heroic stories of that terrible morning offer inspiration, courage and strength, of clinging to life, to fight with all our might for our beloved home, and to make a promise that you will dance once again all over the country. You will once more enjoy music and nature. We will yet be happy, we will once again celebrate life. We will live to stand tall, without fear, in our land,” the president said.