‘I hope they shoot her, I hope it’s quick’
“When her phone died, I said, ‘I hope they shoot her, I hope it’s quick.’ Shani Yerushalmi, 25, from Tel Aviv, told JNS. “I never thought they’d kidnap her.”
Eden Yerushalmi at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, Oct. 6, 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Shani Yerushalmi.
Hamas terrorists kidnapped Shani’s sister, 24-year-old pilates teacher Eden, from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7.
On that day, rockets began raining down on Israel at 6:30 a.m. Eden, who was working as a bartender at the festival, phoned her mother to inform her that the event had been stopped and she’d soon be home.
An hour later, Eden called again.
“I was woken up by the sound of my mother screaming over the phone,” Shani recounts, as terrorists had opened fire on revelers.
Shani grabbed the phone from her mother, initiating a conversation with her sister that would last for more than three hours.
Initially, Eden hid in a car, motionless alongside the bodies of friends who had been shot and killed.
“She could hear the sound of blood dripping on the floor as she played dead,” Shani said of her sister’s experience. “I told her not to listen and instead concentrate on the sound of my voice.”
Eden Yerushalmi, who was abducted at the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7. Photo: Courtesy of Shani Yerushalmi.
Moments later, a phone belonging to one of the slain rang, sparking fears that Shani would be discovered.
Eventually, someone approached the car, an Israeli man urging her to flee in the direction of a forested area.
“I thought I had lost my little sister as her phone had died. Shortly after that, I got a call from an unknown number. Eden had taken a friend’s phone.
“She told me she’d separated from the Israeli man and that he’d been caught,” said Shani.
Eden remained in the bush, in a fetal position, for hours.
“At one point, ants were crawling up her face and biting her. I yelled at her not to cry. I knew if she did they’d find her but they did anyway,” Shani said.
“I told her that the police were on the way. We called the army; no one came.”
