‘To tell the story is hard, but I know I have to’: Survivors from Hamas attack speak at CU Boulder
BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) — College campuses across the nation have seen an almost 800% increase in antisemitic incidents since the attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
To help reshape the narrative, six survivors from the attack went across the nation to college campuses, in partnership with the Seed the Dream Foundation, and launched the “Survived to Tell” tour, which kicked off on March 26 and ended on April 19.
Antisemitic incidents in Colorado rose 199% in 2023
“You’re basically spreading your story out and letting people know what really happened in a world with so much antisemitism and fake news, false accusations,” said Yonathan Diller, a survivor of the attack and a panelist.
Woman recalls playing dead to survive the night
On April 18, the survivors went to the University of Colorado Boulder to share their stories and spark conversations with students.
“To tell the story is hard, but I know I have to,” said Mazal Tazazo, another survivor.
Tazazo said she went with a couple of friends to the Nova Festival on Oct. 7 when she said they saw the first rockets light up the sky.
“The security guys come after they shut off the music and tell us to go,” Tazazo said.
She and her friends ran to their car and tried to drive away, but the 3,000 people who attended the festival that night were also trying to leave.
“We were stuck,” Tazazo said. “In this moment, we start to hear gunshots and we start to hear the Arabic scream.”
They abandoned the car and ran on foot.
“But the terrorists come from the sides,” Tazazo recalled. “We was in the road hiding from the shooting under the cars and crawling.”
Iran fires at suspected Israeli drones near air base and nuclear site
The shooting and screaming got louder, so they went and hid in some nearby bushes. Tazazo said she had her head buried under her hands, but the terrorists found them and shouted at them in English to get up.
“They get the back of the weapon to my head, and I felt my head like jump and fall,” she said. “I don’t hear, don’t see anything, like my head in the space.”
When she came to, she said she could feel someone tying her legs.
“This moment, I don’t know what they do, I only play dead. And they start to talk with each other in Arabic, and one of them come close to me, and in this moment, I knew that I need to hold my breath,” said Tazazo.
She said somehow it worked, and they assumed she was dead, so they left her there.
“I think I’m dying. Like, I talk with God, and I lose my conscious,” Tazazo said.
After a few hours, she woke up and began calling out for her friends but got no answer. Tazazo said that’s when she looked up and saw they were both dead.
Tazazo said she laid there for a while, continuing to play dead until a young woman found her bleeding and broken. She helped Tazazo text her loved ones to let them know where she was, and then they attempted to get somewhere safe. But they heard more gunfire, so they split and Tazazo hid in an abandoned car.
Eventually, an Israeli soldier found her, who was also with the young woman she had been with earlier, and from there, Tazazo went to a hospital where she underwent surgery for all her injuries.
Over a week later, she said her friends were found and recognized, and declared dead.
“After three weeks and a month, I started to talk with a therapist,” Tazazo said while trying to keep a brave face for her 9-year-old son.
FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox
But now, she said talking about it has almost given her an outlet, and she knows she has to.
“There are many lies in the media about what’s happened in Gaza, about what’s happening in Israel, about what’s happening in this day, about what’s happening now,” Tazazo said.
Diller echoed that, saying it is important to be ambassadors for your country.
“Although it’s super hard, the meaning and the whole idea behind it is far greater than me, so I’ll just keep doing it as much as I can,” he said.
Survivor helped others following the attack
Diller’s own story of that night began with him going to the festival to film it with his drone.
“I like flying drones since I finished my Army service,” Diller said.
He said he arrived at around 4 a.m. to set up, and then by 6 a.m., they had headed to the dance floor. That was when the rockets started flying.
“In the beginning, we’re sure it’s like a dream. We didn’t think there was missiles coming from Gaza while we’re in a party,” Diller said.
After the announcement was made to evacuate, he and his friends all went to their separate cars, with Diller sitting in a car with a couple of friends.
Seeing the traffic jam, they decided to try and go around it by taking a right turn. They didn’t get far before people began yelling for them to turn around.
“Suddenly, I see this car coming towards our direction from the sideline. On the side of the road. As it got closer, I saw it was full of bullets. And I see this girl trying to stop,” Diller said.
Impacts of war in Israel reaching Colorado
They realized she needed help, so they went over to her and opened the door.
“We open the door. She slides out full of blood. She was shot on her left knee on top of her left knee. We help her. We try to block her wound, all the blood,” Diller said.
After a while, more people came to help, and Diller and his friends went to the open field where others were. That’s when they could see more terrorists coming in the distance.
“We just stayed there, put our head down, and as the time went by, the bullets were flying on top of our head and the gunfire became louder and louder,” Diller said.
Everyone around him was still not cognizant of what was happening since he said many of them were probably still drunk or high from the festival.
“The best thing I could do at that time was put my head down and yell to the people next to me like, ‘Put your head down, put your head down, now.’ And just screaming it because people were not listening, they weren’t focused,” Diller said.
Once it let up a little, Diller looked on his phone to see where the closest city they could get to was, and the only one he could see was about 14 miles away in Patish.
So, he brought it up to some of the people around him and they began the journey.
“Hour after hour. In the background, there was black smoke, white smoke grenades, rockets in the air and we’re just walking,” Diller said.
Denverites respond to Iranian attack on Israel
They managed to find some grapefruits along the way to help keep their strength up, despite being rotten in some places, and eventually, they made it back.
Now, through this tour, Diller said he hopes to help others.
“Giving people hope, and maybe a sense of inspiration, by telling the story,” Diller said.
During their last stop of the tour in Boulder, Diller said he hopes more people can see where they come from and confront antisemitism head-on and strive for a world filled with compassion and empathy.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
