Rescued Hostage: “My Views Have Completely Changed Since October 7”

 Louis Har, who was rescued from the heart of Rafah in a heroic operation by Yamam special forces after 129 days in captivity, appeared on Shneor Webber’s Melting Pot podcast and shared his harrowing experience in Hamas captivity and personal awakening.

“My views have changed a lot from October 6 until today,” Har said. “I don’t trust any of them. I know that in some way, everyone in Gaza is involved. They were born to hate. They are given weapons when they are babies. They’re happy to sacrifice their children to kill Jews. That’s how they live.”

“To achieve dialogue and coexistence, several generations of proper education in which hatred isn’t taught need to pass. That does not exist. There is no one to talk to. Before I was abducted, I wanted to live in the country in peace and coexistence. We do not hate. We are truly trying to move forward.”

Luis recounted the frightening moments on the morning of Simchas Torah: “We understood they were getting closer to us. We heard the terrorists breaking our windows and entering the house, shooting everywhere, breaking everything. They shot towards the bomb shelter door. Luckily, we were near the corner of the room and crouched down. In hindsight, that saved our lives. They continued shooting as they broke into the bomb shelter and entered. The bullets went over us and from the side.”

“We shouted: ‘Don’t shoot!’ The terrorists barbarically pulled us out and dragged us outside the bomb shelter. There were terrorists in every corner of the house. They asked us for the car keys. We spoke to each other in Spanish and decided not to respond and not to look at them. Afterward, they took us towards the [border] fence. They put Gabriela [Har’s sister] and her daughter Mia in a white pickup truck and drove out of the kibbutz gate toward Gaza. It was exactly at 11:12. a.m. Afterward, they returned and put Fernando, [Har’s brother-in-law], Clara [Har’s wife], and me in the same pickup truck.”

“We sat in the pickup on weapons. Five Hamas terrorists got into the truck. Each had two weapons – one hanging around their neck and the other in their hand which they used to shoot above and shout ‘Allahu Akbar’. Around us, we saw many unarmed Gazan civilians coming to steal whatever they could from the kibbutz homes. We saw them walking around with computers and equipment they had stolen.”

Moving ahead to his surprising rescue, Har said: “My first thought was that the building was bombed by the IDF. I fell from the mattress, toward the direction where the terrorists were. Suddenly, I heard calls: ‘Louis, come here!’ Someone grabbed my leg and said: ‘The IDF is here. We’re taking you home.'”

“They put our heads down and lay on us. It was madness,” he continued. “I’ve never seen anything like this even in movies. I said to the soldier sitting next to me: ‘Tell me, are you sure we’re not in a movie?’ I had to pinch myself to see that I was awake, that this wasn’t just another one of my dreams.”

One week before Har’s miraculous rescue, his daughter and son-in-law took on kabbalos in ruchniyus.