Former Eshkol regional council head says he survived October 7 massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri thanks to IDF

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Demonstrators protest for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, Tel Aviv, April 18, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Demonstrators protest for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, Tel Aviv, April 18, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Former Eshkol regional council head Haim Jelin says that he survived the October 7 massacre at his home on Kibbutz Be’eri thanks to the army unit that saved them, and if he is alive, he has to fight for the unity of the nation.

“Politics doesn’t believe in unity, it doesn’t know how to take responsibility, so we must all make the deep changes that will come from the heart,” said Jelin.

“Every teacher in their class, every doctor in their clinic, the street cleaners, the rabbis in their synagogues, the corner storeowners, the bus drivers, the nation will do this, the power is in our hands.”

Jelin shares the podium with Hagay Lober, father of Staff Sergeant Elisha Yehonatan Lober, who fell in battle in Gaza, who says this night has brought him more comfort than any other night since his son was killed.

“There are people who don’t love the word, ‘now,’ but I love it,” says Lober. “For me, a bereaved father, the word ‘now,’ for me, it is a call for immediacy — for bringing home the captives and destroying our enemies.”

“We will dance here again in the renamed Released Hostages Square,” says Lober. “We will celebrate a Passover of freedom, we’ll celebrate with them, now.”

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