WATCH VIDEO: Hamas massacred 378 Israelis here—that’s why I came to the Nova site and why Evangelicals must come here, too

Re’im, Israel – It’s hard for most people, including Evangelical Christians, to grasp the savagery of what Hamas did on Oct. 7, 2023, three years ago this week. 

On that dreadful day, 1,200 Israelis, Americans, and foreign nationals were murdered by Hamas demons in southern Israel – shot point blank, beheaded, raped and then butchered, and burned alive in their home.

But I came here to the Nova Music Festival memorial because here on this site the biggest massacre of Oct. 7 took place.

I came here to remember.

I came here to pray.

I came here to tell the story for those who don’t know it or don’t remember it.

Three years ago, 3,000 young Israelis – mostly in their 20s – had gathered on Oct. 6 and 7 to enjoy music, dance, and hang out together. 

Yet at 6:29 a.m., as the sun began to rise on that otherwise beautiful and peaceful Saturday morning, Hamas began firing hundreds – and then thousands – of rockets at Israeli civilians.

Then, some 5,000 Hamas ghouls invaded Israel.

More than 300 terrorists stormed across the border and came here in order to murder Jews and set into motion a genocide of the Jewish people. 

These radical Islamist jihadists came to fulfill the Hamas Charter of 1988, to annihilate Israel and cleanse the land of all Jews and Christian’s “from the River [Jordan] to the [Mediterranean] Sea.”

It was here at this dance party near the town of Re’im that Hamas slaughtered 378 young people.

It was here that Hamas brutally raped and sexually assaulted young Israeli girls. 

If that were not evil enough, it was here that Hamas kidnapped 44 young Israelis and took them back to the terror tunnels under the Gaza Strip. 

The savagery was horrific. 

In the accompanying video, I want to take you through this site – and I ask you to share it with family and friends on social media to share the story.

I have included grisly pictures of what happened that day.

But I want to introduce you to the story and I encourage you to learn more.

You’re going to see Israeli government officials, political candidates – including prime ministerial candidates Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett – soldiers, young people, parents, families coming to remember. 

They came to remember the 1,200 Israelis nationwide that were murdered that day.

They came to remember the 1,318 Israeli soldiers that have been killed over the last three years fighting our enemies.

They came also to pray for the 30,000 Israeli soldiers that have been wounded over these last three years of war and terror. 

In the video, I’ll show you where the main stage was because as the terrorists came in, this is where the of center of the action was. 

And then everyone began to scatter.

I’ll also take you inside a large yellow dumpster where some young people that had been singing, had been dancing, began hiding under bags of trash in this dumpster. 

On the walls of the dumpster, you’ll see photos of people that were killed in that dumpster as Hamas terrorists shot them point-blank.

You’ll also see enlarged images of their text messaging back to their families.

We met a father who was told by his son, “It’s bad, but don’t worry – in two hours I’ll be home.” 

But he was murdered.

We also saw the text messaging of a young woman who was murdered here – and we’ll translate the series of messages back and forth between her and her father as she realized she was about to be killed any moment.

8:28 – Snipers. Don’t ask.

8:33 – Just keep me posted that everything is okay.

8:33 – We’re keeping ourselves safe. We have to.

9:13 – What’s going on?

9:14 – Dad, we’re under fire. They’re already upon us. Call the military. Call.

9:15 – Stay under cover.

10:18 – Girls???

11:28 – Girls???

11:39 – Daddy! They’re killing us. They’re killing.

It is heartbreaking.

The emotions are so intense.

Again, it’s difficult to comprehend the sheer savagery of what took place on this very spot three years ago.

But as Evangelicals, we must never forget.

We must resolve never to let it happen again.

And even as show compassion for the Palestinians, especially those in Gaza who are still living under Hamas’ reign of terror – and pray for them to be liberated ASAP from Hamas – we need to stand with Israel who saw more Jewish people murdered on Oct. 7 than on any single day since the Holocaust.

We don’t need to agree with every statement and every action of every Israeli leader.

But it is our biblical responsibility to bless Israel and show her people unconditional love and solidarity, as we are commanded in Genesis 12.

Yet even as we remember our wounded and fallen heroes, we are also rejoicing that all of the living hostages were finally released last year and are rebuilding their lives.

And then we got a new moment to celebrate as a group of extraordinary heroes thwarted the attempted hijacking of a FlyDubai flight from the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv.

We are celebrating the courage of Captain Smit Machchhar, the 38-year-old Indian pilot, repeatedly attacked by his co-pilot with an axe, yet somehow able to fight back and unlock and open the cockpit door, even as the Boeing 737 plummeted almost three miles in less than a minute.

We are celebrating the quick thinking and bold action of Yaniv Hayoun, the 50-year-old Israeli plumber, who stormed into the cockpit, put the terrorist in a choke hold, dragged him out of the cockpit, and then miraculously took the controls and leveled out the plane with just 30 seconds or so before they crashed into the Jordanian desert.

We are also celebrating five other Israeli heroes who tied up the terrorist and kept him pinned down until the planesafely in Saudi Arabia, while also administering life-saving medical care to the bleeding pilot.

By God’s amazing grace – and in an extraordinary modern miracle – the God of Israel and these true heroes saved the lives of some 180 souls and gave all Israelis something to truly cheer about rather than marking Oct. 7 with new grief.