Surviving Nova creates new objectives for Millet
Millet Ben Haim hid in bushes after escaping a barrage of terrorists who were chasing her while she was trying to escape from the October 7 attack on the Nova Peace Festival.
Millet Ben Haim
After hiding in the bushes for hours, she was rescued with just 2% of her phone battery left.
She has been visiting Sydney, participating in the launch of UIA NSW’s Gesher initiative.
She told J-Wire she went to Nova with four friends who also survived the terrorist attack. Seven acquaintances did not survive the murderous fire of the Hamas guns.
Millett, 28, fled the scene, finding bushes that hid her and three other women, including two of her friends.
This was the fourth time Millett had found herself in the midst of a terror attack and now she is dedicating her time and her future in advocating peace and preventing future attacks.
Talking to members of the community through VR headsets, she expressed the fear she felt on October 7 by willing a rocket or shell to hit her.
She said: “I know being there under that bush created new feeling for me. I never felt it before. And it’s not because I wasn’t scared before in my life.”
J-Wire asked Millett about the three prior terrorist attacks she had experienced.
MBH: The first one was when I was about ten years old. I was in the Old City in Jerusalem, and a mechanical digger was being operated by terrorists. They started to run over people. I was there with my family. We escaped. It was scary, but we all got away.
I was 19 when I experienced the second one. In the summer of 2015, there were many stabbing attacks. I was a soldier and was chased by terrorists with knives in Tel Aviv. I managed to escape by running into the arms of a police officer.
And the third one was in Dizengof in Tel Aviv. The terrorists shot people in different bars. So I was there too. And I had to hide again.
And now Nova. I was scared before during those attacks. But they were nothing compared to Nova. The fear that I felt when I saw those terrorists or when I was running through the fields seeing people being murdered when I didn’t have anywhere to go to find safety. It’s another scale of being terrified.
Millet (foreground) takes a selfie with three others hiding from terrorists under a bush
JW:
Do you now have an ongoing fear of another attack?
MBH:
I do have an ongoing fear of being attacked everywhere I go, all the time. As for having another massive attack in Israel, that is similar to what we went through at Nova, I don’t I don’t have a fear of that.
I think, in general, I’m more afraid to lose people that I love who are reservists.
JW:
Are you getting some positive strength from what you’re doing right now? Talking about Nova wherever you go.
MBH:
I have to live through it over and over all the time. That being said, there is something about not just been a victim but being in a position to take action. We have to concentrate on the things that are under our control. And so by doing that, I think that benefits me in a way, but at the end of the day, I don’t I don’t care if it will impact me. For the better or worse, I feel like this is our obligation. And as long as we have our hostages still held in captivity, as long as we see this increase in anti-Semitism, as long as the world is blind to what happened, I have to keep going. We have to make sure that all the deaths that we suffer will not be in vain. And we are being a voice for those who can’t speak up. And we have to make sure that this world is a better place for future generations. This can never happen again.
JW: Do you still live in Tel Aviv?
MBH: No. I moved a week after October 7 to a small town. I had to live in a place that is not bustling. So I just moved to a place by myself and isolated myself. I do a lot of speaking engagements and I travel a lot but when I’m in Israel, it’s hard for me to be with people. So if I’m at home it’s just me with myself in a quiet place.
JW:
The Israelis who lived and continued to live in the Gaza envelope were friendly with the Palestinians in Gaza. What will happen to those relationships?
MBH:
I don’t know what’s going to happen now to that specific group of people. Most of them were very optimistic and they were always advocating for peace. I think we were all shocked. You know, not even as Jewish people but as people, that people can be so brutal and it changes you.
I can only speak on my own behalf. It’s very hard but important for me not to become a bitter, vindictive person. I don’t think the world needs it. There is so much hate now around the world I’m determined to to be a voice of love.
Millett’s immediate plans are to travel anywhere where she can tell her story.
Millet Ben Haim speaks with such a sense of clarity and resolve, despite being traumatised by her most horrific experience. She also speaks with great depth of insight when she refers to her realisation of the brutality of people per se, even aside from being Jewish and subject to that brutality, and how that changed her. It’s a shocking realisation to come to. I commend her for her spirit and her courage, her fine intelligence, her love for others, her capacity to live alone, her capacity to resist being victim and instead fight for her valuable life and the valuable lives of other Jews. I commend her and send her my love.