Israeli Holocaust Survivor Confronts Painful Past: October 7 Hamas Attack Resurfaces Childhood Trauma

By Team Asianet Newsable | First Published Jan 27, 2024, 5:04 PM IST

Gad Partok recalled the ill-fated time of 1942 when Nazis mercilessly killed people close to him. He compared the Holocaust to the October 7 Hamas attack highlighting the similarities and the flashback of his childhood trauma experience.

An Israeli holocaust survivor highlighted the revival of his painful past after the October 7 Hamas attack. The brutal ambush attack from the Palestinian terror group took Holocaust survivor Gad Partok back to the traumatic event of the Jews’ persecution by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Hamas in similarity to Hitler vows to finish Jews (Israel).

Gad Partok who was just 10 years old when the Nazis forcefully barged into the streets of the coastal Tunisian town of Nabeul. The Holocaust survivor recalls that the Hamas terrorists like Nazis went door to door and shot people, even burned down their homes. Hamas managed to kill more than 2,000 Israelis through the fateful October 7 attack.

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The 93-year-old photographer watched the live invasion from the Hamas forces into the Israeli territories. Gad Partok just a few miles away from the attack in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon was numb with the terrifying live visuals on the TV and sounds of rockets and sirens. The childhood trauma experienced during the Holocaust came back.

Gad Partok said, “I thought — what, is this the same period of those Nazis? It can’t be. Where is the army? Where is the government? Our people? The dragging of the people of Be’eri, Nir Oz, Kfar Aza, Kissufim, Holit, it’s the same thing. It reminded me of the same thing. I was very, very unwell. I even felt a feeling, it’s hard to explain, of disgust, of fear, of terrible memories.”

The October 7 attack flashed back dark memories of not only Gad Partok but many others as well who were persecuted all around the world with antisemitism. The Israel Defense Forces warned Hamas of serious consequences and delivered a near wipeout of the terror group in Gaza. More than 26,000 Palestinians majorly Hamas terrorists have been killed in Israel’s revenge attacks.

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