There are many tales of incredible heroism by Israelis, soldiers and civilians, who gave their lives to save their fellows. I think of Aner Shapira, a British-Israeli and an off-duty soldier, who had attended the Nova Music Festival. When the Hamas terrorists arrived in the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, about 30 of the music goers, including Aner Shapira, took refuge in a shelter.
More about Anel Shapira can be found here:
An off-duty British-Israeli soldier threw back seven Hamas grenades targeted at a shelter by gunmen during the attack on a music festival on 7 October, Sky News has been told.
Aner Shapiro was killed when the eighth grenade thrown at him went off in his hand as he heroically attempted to defend his fellow festival goers.
His grandmother Yamima Ben-Menahem told Sky News how he valiantly stood up against the militants and did his best to keep people calm.
She said: “They were trying to get out of the party and then there were alarms and there were missiles.
“And they went into a shelter he was with his friend Hersh Goldberg but there were about 30 other people there.
“First of all he calmed them down saying the army was only half an hour away and he was sure everything was going to be okay.
“He was a natural leader, wherever he was.”
She went on to say how Hamas approached the shelter he and others were hiding in and started flinging hand grenades into it.
“When the terrorists came nearer, he stood at the entrance, and when they started throwing grenades into the shelter, he said ‘I’m going to throw them back’, and if I miss one, you do the rest of the work.
“He just stood there and threw back one grenade after the other.
“From what his friends told us he managed to throw back about seven grenades, and then the last one exploded in his hands.”…
Heroic, too, were the IDF officers — instructors of new recruits — who deliberately replaced those recruits for what they must have known was an impossible task: keeping the military training base at Zikim from being overrun by mad-dog killers. More on those officers can be found here: “October 7 Probe: IDF Instructors Sacrificed Themselves to Save Recruits,” Algemeiner, April 27, 2025:
The Israeli army revealed on Sunday the findings of its investigation into the fighting that took place at the Zikim Home Front Command training base during the terrorist onslaught on October 7, 2023.
Seven people lost their lives in this battle, including five military officers who protected about 100 young recruits. According to the investigation, it all started at 7:24 am when the first terrorists were spotted approaching the base. Five minutes later, the first casualties were reported near a guard post overlooking the sea. A decisive decision was then made by the company commander: swap the young recruits at the guard posts with more experienced officers….
A critical moment occurred when a young soldier spotted a terrorist approaching a shelter where 100 recruits were huddled. “He neutralized him with five bullets. We can only imagine the tragedy that could have occurred if the terrorists had discovered these 100 young soldiers,” the report said….
Almost 1,200 Israelis were murdered that day. But the numbers could have been much higher had these officers and men, officers such as those who swapped places with junior recruits, knowing they would die, soldiers such as Aner Shapira who threw back seven live grenades at Hamas terrorists, until the eighth blew up in his hand, sacrificed themselves to protect their fellow Israelis. There are many others: Ben Shimoni, who kept driving back to the site of the Nova Music Festival to pick up Israelis, weaving around gun-toting jihad terrorists, until he was finally murdered on his fourth trip; Eden Nimri; Noam Bonfeld, who fought off dozens of terrorists singlehandedly until he ran out of ammunition; Ariel Bilya; Sahar Salomon; and so many more. Let us now praise famous men. For that is what, in the annals of the Jewish state, they will undoubtedly become.
Greg says
Deserves a medal, postumsly!
Barbara D. Martin says
God bless these brave men and so many more who sacrificed themselves that others might live. Israel is blessed to have these heroes.
abu taleb says
On the opposite side, muslims, including Muhammad himself, sacrifice other muslims to protect their very own lives.
David M says
I still want to know why there were no Israeli helicopter gunships deployed when they could have been there in 5 minutes, & why there was not a full response for 7 hours. There was some kind of stand down, & Netanyahu has managed to avoid a full enquiry into that day. It looks like Israel’s own Pearl Harbor in order to do a full scale assault on Gaza.
Alkflaeda says
It was a shabbat, and a festival, and Hamas had very deliberately set out to convince the Israelis that they wanted peace. It is easy to look back now and say that this was taqiyya, and that it was wishful thinking on Israel’s part to credit Hamas with even the most minimal goodwill – but it is difficult for any normal person to grasp the sheer evil that animates Islamic terrorists.
David M says
I find it hard to believe MOSSAD knew nothing about if beforehand.
Netanel says
Gaza is not in the jurisdiction of the Mossad, it’s the Shin Bet’s.
attack helicopter are pretty bad for these kinds of actions because they need to get low and are makes them vulnerable to enemy fire. Jets aren’t useful for it either beacuse of the amount of enemies there were, if it was a single target it would be easier but otherwise it’s not quite effective.
Drones on the other hand are the best for this kind of attack but due to the state the country was at that time there were barely any trained drone pilots in the bases.
The entire situation is pretty messed up, and I agree that it sounds very strange that nobody knew beforehand….
James Lincoln says
Aner Shapiro should receive, posthumously, the Israeli equivalent of the Medal of Honor.