'We Don't Go Down Without a Fight': Israeli Survivor Armed Her Kids as Hamas Attacked Their Home

Mark Martin : Oct 20, 2023
CBN News

"I ran to the safe room, put on vests on my children. One daughter, I gave her a canister of pepper gas; the other daughter, I gave her a club. And on my son, my small son, I gave him a helmet to protect his body." -Michal Rahav, a survivor of the raid on Kibbutz Nirim, near the Gaza border

[CBN News] It's being called the "darkest antisemitic event since the Holocaust." Hamas terrorists spared no one—innocent men, women and children—as they launched a brutal attack on Israel. CBN News continues to bring you the stories of those who survived the massacre. (Screengrab image: via CBN News)

"We started seeing these horrible things that looked like the apocalypse—burnt cars, cars that have been gunned down, bodies, a lot of bodies, inside the cars outside the cars, just like images that I don't know how to describe," said Galia Sopher, a survivor of the Hamas raid on Kibbutz Mefalsim, near the Gaza border.

Sopher and her family survived the attack by hiding in the shelter in their home.

"We've lost a lot of friends, a lot of people that I work with; I know that they are kidnapped," the tearful survivor continued. "I don't know how we got so lucky and why others didn't."

"I ran to the safe room, put on vests on my children," shared Michal Rahav, a survivor of the raid on Kibbutz Nirim, also near the Gaza border. "One daughter, I gave her a canister of pepper gas; the other daughter, I gave her a club. And on my son, my small son, I gave him a helmet to protect his body." (Screengrab image: via CBN News)

"I laid them down on the floor, and I told them, 'Whatever comes through that door, we fight; we don't go down without a fight,'" Rahav continued.

Rahav, her husband, and three children survived the Hamas attack. After firing a rocket-propelled grenade at her home, and shooting at the door and window, the terrorists could not get into the safe room and moved on.

"My kids are trying to pick up the pieces. Every hour that goes by, we understand how big this tragedy is," she explained. "They lose friends; they lose teachers, classmates."

The organization known as the "Combat Antisemitism Movement" provided survivors like these an opportunity to share their stories.

Click Here to watch the CBN News video report on survivors

Almog Senior survived the senseless massacre at the Nova Music Festival, where Hamas murdered at least 260 people and took hostages. He and his friend narrowly missed being shot by a terrorist.

"He went to the back of his truck and pulled out of there a machine gun, a huge one that's like you hold with like... and turned it towards us," Senior said. "Like in this moment, it was clear that it was a terrorist, and my friend, again, with a swift decision, like just made a massive u-turn and started driving as fast as he can to the other side."

Alon Marek also escaped the music festival attack.

"All these cars, the windows were broken; there was blood on the road, which I later understood that just a few moments before we passed, this Hamas terrorist was on the road, firing at every car that was coming, firing at every person that was coming," he shared. (Screengrab image: via CBN News)

Combat Antisemitism Movement hopes that by sharing these stories, the audience "will gain a profound understanding of the human toll of these attacks." The organization's leader wants to inform the world, including allies and friends, what happened to the Jewish people.

"It's scenes that you would imagine 70 years ago, but not in 2023, that people are running in the forest and hiding," said Marek. "And they can't speak in the phones; they can't make a noise because there are terrorists that are walking just beside them, and gunshots firing everywhere."

"Everything was shattered for us, and the reality that we know now is different," Rahav shared. "We don't know how to continue from now on, and what is going to be." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Mark Martin currently serves as a reporter and anchor at CBN News, reporting on all kinds of issues, from military matters to alternative fuels.