Golan’s Story

[Music]. from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. daily in the weeks since Israel suffered. the deadliest day in its history fresh. accounts have emerged in Village after. Village of just how extreme and how. widespread the violence actually. [Music]. was today the story of one man at the.

epicenter of that. [Music]. violence it's Friday October. 13th hello hi goolan this is Sabrina. tavernes from the daily from The New. York Times Daily podcast.

hi hi thank you for talking to. us yeah of course I'm I'm on my way to. the I think it's the most quiet place I. can find great perfect Golan thank you. so much I know you must be absolutely. exhausted yeah it's not. easy where are you right now we are uh. all the community were evacuated to an. up in the Dead Sea all the.

refugees we all got to this place this. is practically I think 90% of the hotel. is people from Mikey. boots Golan can you identify yourself. for me please tell me your name your age. and where you. live my name is Golan. abitbol um my age is 44.

I live in kibuts. Berry and I was born in the. kibuts the kibuts was established in. 46 it's older than the state of Israel. and it's a quiet place surrounded by. nature and uh I've been living there all. my life with my family how many people. in the kibuts we have like a thousand. people in the kibuts and.

we know each one of them by name because. we lived with. them since I was born and we know the. name of the kids we know everybody we. all vouch for each other we all take. care of each other and uh it's it's. amazing place to raise your kids. in do you have children I have four kids. the older one is 15 his sister is.

14 and my twin girls are. nine oh twin. girls yeah and the kids are going freely. there don't have any traffic inside the. kibuts just go send the kids to the. grandparents on the other side of the. kibo and they can go and you don't worry. because.

nothing bad can. [Music]. happen Golan I'm going to turn us now to. the attack but first I want you to tell. me about. Friday how did you spend the day before. the attack began what was Friday like. for. you on Friday morning. in 5: in the morning I I got up in reav.

Iceland oh my goodness I woke up in. ravic Iceland coming back from work and. landed in Israel in about 6: in the. evening and uh two hours later I was at. home so this was my Friday and I saw my. kids after a week I didn't saw them I. spent time with them we ate dinner. together I I saw my friends we read some.

drinks and went to sleep like a normal. Friday and then we woke up in about 6:20. in the morning to the sound of launching. missiles it was a huge huge launch and I. remember telling my. wife what is going on what what is it's. out of of the.

blue we are on the border of Gaza we. know what it's like to have a missile. attacks we are used to it but this time. it was weird it was suddenly and it was. so. intensive and a few minutes later we got. a text message we have an app of the. community so we got a text that is an.

invasion to the. kibuts and that we should lock ourself. in the. shelter in the second I got this message. I went to my safe and took my gun it's a. pistol it's a small 9 mm pistol and it's. what I have for personal defense so the. first thing that felt right to do for me. is to take the gun out and lock my. family in the shelter and then took a.

front position in the kitchen where I. can have a better view of the. neighborhood and if someone come I can. respond and engage before they come to. my. house and next we started toar shooting. and we started toar talks in. Arabic and I was looking outside of the. kitchen. windows and then I saw in the outside.

parameter of my neighborhood um I saw. some terrorist standing outside with. RPGs and heavy machine. guns what did you think at that moment I. knew it was. bad and then I saw them exiting an. apartment of one of my. friends I saw three guys with is a.

fighting vest with all the equipment the. gear and the helmets and behind them. three guys wearing civilian. uniforms and they were exiting my. neighbor apartment. and ah it was horrible I I I didn't know. what to do if he's alive if he's dead he. kid I didn't know I just saw them. exiting the. apartment.

and then there. was units starting entering the. neighborhood I saw them going near one. of the families and start shouting t t. like IDF IDF to make my neighbors think. that they are from the IDF and they will. give up and get out to make your. neighbors think they were actually from. the Israeli military that's the idea. yeah and this group were dressed like an.

Israeli police officers but something. about the way they were dressed they. were I I don't know how to describe it a. bit sloppy sloppy you know it's not it. didn't felt right for. me and I I text my friend I don't think. it's the IDF don't open the. door and then.

I heard Arabic from real real close and. I heard shooting from real close and I. saw from around the corner terrorist I. saw them going towards my uh. balcony I was standing at my post at the. kitchen and I just saw them coming from. around the corner I saw their. face and you could see murder in their.

eyes I saw in their eyes they're going. to kill my family I need to shoot now or. else it's going to be my. family it's now or. never so I started. shooting I gave a burst of five or six. bullets toward them and they shot back. at my home they shot with automatic. weapons so then I'm shooting now from.

here and I'm going to a different. position to shoot from a different. position because you don't fire twice. from the same position so it will seems. like there are more than one armed. persons inside the the house in Israel. you join the Army in the age of 18 and. then you do a reserve duty until you are. about the age of. 40 so you don't thinkink you act like a.

warrior you you switch to a different. mood and it's like a muscle. memory and it's like a slow motion. Movie Everything is slow everything. is you see every move like. flow and then and then you you hear them. shooting back and then you it's like a.

fast forward you jump to the floor and. hide from the. [Music]. bullets so the time moves slowly and is. suspended and then the time moves very. quickly and speeds up yeah yeah it's. like a weird dream or. something yeah like a weird. dream do you remember feeling fear. yeah of.

course of course if you don't feel fear. you're an. idiot I felt fear and I felt fear for my. my family and my. neighbors but the fear is set aside and. now it's time to engage the. enemy so then after several burst of. fire toward the balcony and toward the. rest of the house they shot the house. from many positions but my family were.

in the safe room and the safe room can. stand the hit of a. missile so I wasn't worri about them. it's okay shoot the house as much as you. like I'm on the floor M it's okay. now and then I don't know why they. left they decided to. go they went to a different. house. [Music].

then it's got quiet it got. quiet when I say quiet I mean I didn't. see any any attackers any terrorists. outside you could always always hear all. the time the noise of a weapons shooting. outside I can hear them throwing. grenades but I didn't see for like an. hour anyone else and then.

I heard one of my neighbors texting in. the group of the. neighborhood that they're in his house. and they're trying to break into the. safe room but he was holding on to the. liver so they won't be able to open the. door then I guess they got tired of. trying to and they just set the house on. fire and at first I didn't saw the fire. then. I heard a a weird noise a weird.

unfamiliar noise of cracking stuff. things like stuff is cracking cracking. wood and I looked outside and I saw all. the top floor on fire and they they. started texting that the fire the smoke. is getting inside inside the safe room. and in the kibuts text group they said. you you need to put wet fabric on your.

mouth to Shield you from the smoke but. the house is on fire and in certain time. it was it wasn't safe for them. anymore and I told them I don't see. anyone outside from my position so they. jump to the ground. level the family with the two kids and. ran straight to the neighbor's house and. got inside his safe room together with.

him so the whole village was giving them. instruction by text no no no the Old. Village was giving each other. instruction we were all under attack not. only our neighborhood there were some. neighborhoods closer to. the Eastern side the side of. Gaza that were heavily attacked much. heavier attacks than we got. they got RPGs on their house on the safe.

rooms and then in the text group the. daughter of one of my best friends just. send a recording. over she wasn't shouting she was. whispering help us my mother and brother. are dying my father is hurt and he's. dying they're trying to enter the house. and he's on fire god and she just kept.

on sending this kind of message and and. I know this girl and I know she's a good. friend of my girls and she been to our. house several times and I used to work. with her father and we are one family we. are like one family and I hear. her her recording just help us help us. my father is dying my mother is already. dead my my my older brother is lying.

dead. and you you feel. helpess how old is. she I think about 10 years. old she had to see her parents. critically injured in front of her eyes. and just she couldn't do. anything and I couldn't do anything and. no one could do.

anything later on I. heard they managed to rescue both of. them after shooting with a tank because. there were terrorist inside their home. and. they they survived the girl is okay and. their. father is just got out of surgery he. lost his leg but he's alive he's with us. not like a lot of my.

friends but the rest of her family was. killed the rest of her family was. killed Golan when did you finally leave. the house and when did the. police finally. respond we heard the a big noise really. weird one and I opened the window to get. a different View and I saw tanks tanks.

on the neighborhood it's not. something it's not something you're. supposed to see so I knew things are. going to change but I don't know how. long it's going to take and then a unit. of the army came and took us. out it was night. time but we could see a. lot to see the kibuts burn to the.

ground it's it was. horrible we could see the house of my. neighbors normally when you have fire in. the house the firefighters are coming. and they put out the fire but here I. could see the fire dies out after. burning. everything we were encircled by the. soldiers who kept us safe and and took. us and they told us to close the eyes of.

the young kids so they won't see the. dead bodies of the terrorist lying. outside so they want have to have this. kind of memories in their mind they. won't be scarred more than they are. already. scarred and we went to the entrance of. the. kibuts and they took us to the. evacuation.

area and we were just about to go on a. truck an army truck to evacuate us and. then from the bushes one of the. terrorists just started shooting at us. with no cover and we had I had to lie on. my kids and protect them my twins I had. to shelter them with my body and Shout. to my kids I lost my two grown-up. kids I shouted them where are you where.

are you. and it seems like forever but they. killed the terrorist very quickly the. soldiers and no one was injured what. time was that approximately do you have. any sense of that that was 10:00 at. night. 10:30 when we left the. perimeter and it began in 6:00 in the. morning. that is so many.

hours that's. eternity. it's I I just can't describe the. feeling it just felt like an. [Music]. eternity and later on we were evacuated. to the hotel in the Dead Sea where we. are. now. [Music].

did anybody in your neighborhood. die we don't know we don't know we have. we get drips by drips of names and today. all the grown-ups in the community got. inside the conference room of the hotel. and they were sitting there some members. of the community with the list and they. were starting to read the names of the.

people we know are. dead and each one of the members got the. page and start reading like 10 names and. then collapse back and then the other. one next to him. stand and start reading some more. names and sit back and like I don't I. don't know how many I don't know how. many I couldn't count and then I know.

each one of them I know each one of them. and they read the. names and then they pused and said now. we are going to read the names of the. people we don't know where they. are and it was just as. long a good friend of mine she was they. broke into her safe room they pulled her. out she and their.

kids and they told them to sit. outside and they took all the men and. the. boys from this group put them on a truck. and just went to Gaza and they took her. son is is the best friend of my son he's. 16 years old and he's the most adorable. gentle kid and they just ripped him away.

from the hands of his. mother. and my son is devastated and we are all. devastated and we don't know what. happened to to our family we don't know. what happened to our friends we know. that they kill one out of. 10 of our community one out out of 10 is. dead but a lot more were.

taken they took babies they took kids. they took elderly. people 80 years old. woman she was like my grandmother I I. know her from the day I was born and she. was like my grandmother and we were. laughing together like two weeks ago and. now they took her. why what kind of they're not human. beings they're are not human being a.

human being couldn't do this kind of. they are vicious. killers they are not Freedom Fighter. they're not fighting to to liberate. their country and our. community donated every year money to. some people who used to work in the. kibuts these are people from Gaza people. from Gaza they were our friends and we. donated money to them the mother of a.

friend of mine who was kidnapped she. used to go once a week to one of the. border crossing with Gaza STP and pick. up with her car children and Tak them to. get dialysis in Israeli hospitals and. now she's in. Gaza we are liberal person we don't. believe that all of the people in Gaza. are evil we don't believe. we didn't believe I'm.

sorry we didn't believe I don't know. what I'm thinking now I don't know what. to think now because we always thought. that peace and. negotiation is the. solution and I I I don't think anyone. think. now we lost our fate we don't think. there could be any kind of real to talk. with these.

animals that destroyed my kibuts. kidnapped my family and we we want them. back we can't be a community without. them they are part of us it's like a. jiga puzzle you you can't take one piece. and it will be. okay the ones are dead are gone okay but. we need them we need the ones that. survive get my neighbors back I want. them back they are my friend they are my. family I want them.

back and I go in the hotel and it's like. a roller coaster of emotions because I. hear someone just died and it break my. hearts and I Collapse and second later I. see. someone arriving that I was sure that he. was dead and I was afraid to ask and. then another one is dead. and another one alive and it's a roller.

coaster of. [Applause]. emotions what are the children like in. the hotel how are your 9-year-old. daughters my twins are playing they they. talk to a psychiatrist and they didn't. saw anything they heard the noise of the. shooting but they didn't saw the. terrorist they didn't saw the. bodies my older kids saw the bodies they.

know about their friends that were. kidnapps and their knows about their. friends that were. slaughtered they. know and they will never be kids. again their childhood is. over and I know my son will never be the. same again his childhood is. over his friends. are dead or gone in Gaza.

and and now we need to start to rebuild. our life from. scratch and from the moment we arrived. here we rebuild infrastructure of the. community this person who in charge of. finding people place to sleep in someone. who is in charge of activities for the. kids and we have a person who is in. charge of the elderly persons and the.

nurse of the kibuts is in charge of. getting people their medicine that they. left back at home we rebuild our. community here in the hotel so we could. survive the day to come because we don't. know how long we are going to be here we. don't know if we have a place to go back. to I don't know if if my home is still. standing I don't know. and it's still under Army.

quarantine so we can't go back home we. are here like. [Music]. refugees so for now I'm still in the. hotel and trying to hold on trying to go. on one day at a. time do you feel that it changed. you. I'm sure he. did I always say I was H scratched.

already before with all. the military service I I've been. through but this is a different kind of. scratch so many friend of mine died so. many when half of your friend. died there is no coming back there is. you we are not I'm not going to be the. same person as.

before I'm trying to. keep my. humor as much as I. can but none of us are going to be the. same again my kids are not going to be. the same again I'm not going to be the. same again none of us Israel is not. going to be the same again we went to a. second. Holocaust and unfortunately I did a. opportunity to be in the front.

[Music]. line we are not going to be the. [Music]. [Music]. same the death toll from the weekend's. attack in Israel stands at 1,00 2 200. people among them were at least 25.

Americans in Gaza at least. 1,537 people including 500 children have. been killed in air strikes that Israel. has conducted in retaliation for the. attack and late Thursday night Israel's. military told the United Nations that. the entire population of Northern Gaza. about 1 million people should relocate.

to the southern half of the territory in. 24 hours the UN said it had strongly. appealed for the order to be rescinded. to avoid making quote what is already a. tragedy into a calamitous. [Music]. situation we'll be right back. [Music].

here's what I'll you should know today. the House of Representatives was once. again left without any Prospect for a. leader when Representative Steve scales. of Louisiana withdrew his name for. consideration for the speakership late. on. Thursday scales was nominated for the. role on Wednesday but he failed to. muster enough votes to be elected. because Hardline Republicans bed at. supporting him instead they threw their.

weight behind his Challenger. representative Jim Jordan of Ohio the. right-wing Republican endorsed by former. president Donald Trump the surprise move. left the house Republican caucus in. chaos with no clear end in sight scales. said he would step aside in hopes that. someone else could unite the fractious. party. today's episode was produced by Lindsay.

Garrison Ricky nety and Diana win with. help from Summer tood it was edited by. MJ Davis Lynn with help from Paige cowt. and Michael benois contains original. music by Dan Powell Marian Lozano and. Alicia BBE and was engineered by Alyssa. Moxley our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben Lanser of wonderly. special thanks to Alan.

deer that's it for the daily I'm Sabrina. Tavern see you on. [Music]. Monday.