Survivors of Oct. 7 terrorist attack speak at ‘Israel Day at the Capitol’ in Tallahassee

Millet Ben Haim, a survivor of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel, speaks in front of the Old Capitol in Tallahassee on Feb. 29, 2024. (Photo credit: Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)

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A bipartisan group of state lawmakers gathered in front of the Florida Capitol on Thursday to observe the state’s first “Israel Day at the Capitol,” an event labeled as “bittersweet” by Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo because of the war between Israel and Hamas.

On October 7, Hamas gunmen killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and took around 250 hostage. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of approximately 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Among those speaking at the event were Millet Ben Haim and Rom El Hai, two people who’d attended the Tribe of Nova Music Festival in Southern Israel where at least 260 people were killed on Oct. 7, according to the Associated Press.

Ben Haim, 28, said that she and three other young women hid under a bush for six hours hoping to avoid the terrorists.

“I prayed to get hit by a rocket,” she said. “Because it was very clear to me that if they will see us they will rape us … and to know now what they did to so many other girls and actually some of the guys — that is devastating.”

Equally devastating, she added, has been the reaction of the international community. “We have a second circle of this trauma, as the world either stays silent or worse [is] standing up against us.”

El Hai, 29, said what he remembers is how the terrorists seemed so happy, “like a birthday party,” while they were killing Jews.

“It was so brutal, that thing that I’ll never forget it the rest of my life,” he said.

“But we need to remember that there are so many people that didn’t survive, and we need to mention them every day and we need to bring the hostages [home] as soon as we can, and also we need to make sure that thing will never happen again, not just in Israel but any place in the world,” he said. “But there is one thing we know for sure is that we will dance again.”

State’s reaction

Florida has a Jewish population of more than 670,000, according to the World Population Review, and the DeSantis administration and the Florida Legislature responded immediately in support of Israel after the attack.

On Oct. 10, Gov. Ron DeSantis met with Jewish leaders in Miami-Dade County and announced that he was increasing sanctions against the Iranian government (a State Department spokesman said in the immediate aftermath of the attack that while Iran was “complicit” the department had no evidence that it directed or orchestrated it).

A month later, the Legislature approved $25 million to bolster security for Jewish day schools.

And on Thursday, the House approved a measure (HB 187) updating the definition of antisemitism in Florida — which includes a provision that the term “antisemitism” does not include criticism of Israel that is similar to criticism of any other country.

While the war in Gaza has continued, there have been protests on college campuses in Florida in support of Palestinian rights and calls for a cease-fire.

At the press conference, Pizzo, representing South Florida, appeared to reference those protests.

“We accuse each other on either side of the aisle very often about misinformation, but it’s been horrible to see throughout the state of Florida as we tour around to see the disinformation that many of our kids have been experiencing and having been seeing,” he said.

A month after the attacks, the Legislature nearly unanimously voted down a resolution sponsored by Jacksonville Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon calling for a cease-fire in the conflict. The vote was 104-2.

Meanwhile, President Biden said earlier this week that he hopes for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas to put a pause on the fighting and allow for the remaining hostages held by Hamas to be released by next week, according to the Associated Press.

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