JNS
Thirty-six officers were on patrol at the Supernova music festival. Half died.
“On October 7, we were 100% the bulletproof vests of the nation."
This according to Master Sgt. Dean Elsdunne, Israel Police international spokesperson, speaking to JNS on the sidelines of an emotional event at the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, honoring the 67 police officers who died in the line of duty on Oct. 7, 2023, and over the past year, battling terrorists and defending the State of Israel.
The event was attended by police officers, including family members of those slain performing their duty, along with other officers who risked their lives on that bloody day.
Elsdunne addressed the audience, sharing that he felt many Israelis are unaware of the huge role the Israel Police played on Oct. 7, and in the following weeks.
In addition to saving lives, officers were also charged with identifying victims, disarming unexploded rockets and IEDs, gathering 1.2 million digital articles and footprints from body cameras and CCTV footage in order to identify terrorists, and more, he said.
Elsdunne also stressed their key part in Israel's two hostage rescue operations in Gaza, led by the police's Yamam anti-terrorism special forces, which resulted in safely bringing home six hostages.
"Even before 7 a.m. on October 7, the police Southern District commander gave the order to implement an emergency contingency plan that shut down the district, putting officers at strategic points throughout the region in order to not allow the terrorists to seep through even further into Israel," he said.
"Officers didn’t wait for commands or mobilization, they grabbed their handguns and went out. They ran to the south to reinforce those officers who were already fighting, and fought in battle for 50 hours—along with commanders and border police, preventing the terrorists from penetrating deeper by blocking key arteries," said Elsdunne.
At the same time, 36 officers were on patrol at the Supernova music festival. They were supposed to be there simply to enforce law and order, but they acted quickly in shutting down the party when the rockets started raining down, shuttling people to safety and evacuating the wounded, he said.
"I won't for a second minimize the 360 deaths at Nova, but if the police officers weren't there, with 3,000 in attendance, shutting down the party, battling terrorists, and getting people to safety by going around Hamas checkpoints, the casualties would have been much higher."
200 lives
Master Sgt. Remo Salman El-Hozayel, one of the officers at the memorial, was one of those on duty at the music festival.
El-Hozayel, a Bedouin Muslim from Rahat, has been a police investigator for the past five years. A day before the attack, another officer asked him to take her shift and provide security at the festival.
He told JNS he arrived at the Supernova site at 6:22 a.m., minutes before the first rockets were launched from Gaza. After the rockets hit, he assisted in evacuating the crowd.
Not yet aware of the extent of the infiltration and attack, groups of frantic teenagers flagged him down just after 7 a.m., saying that people had been shot next to Kibbutz Re'im nearby.
El-Hozayel cocked his gun, and along with 10 fellow officers charged toward Route 232, where Hamas terrorists had started to snipe at passing cars.
With bullets whizzing by, including one shot by a Hamas sniper that missed him by less than an inch, El-Hozayel spent more than three hours driving back and forth from the Supernova site, rescuing partygoers by transporting them to a greenhouse in Moshav Patish.
"I started after I found a small car and packed eight-10 teens inside and headed east," he said. "Along the way, I saw more teens asking for help. They were screaming, asking me to take them also. They were saying, 'Help us, we are too young to die.' This broke my heart."
It was later revealed that El-Hozayel saved more than 200 lives that morning.
After 15 hours of saving lives and battling terrorists, he made it back home to Rahat for a little rest. He woke up the next morning and went back to the frontline, battling Hamas for the next two weeks.
“On October 7, all of Israel stood together. It doesn’t matter if you were a Jew, a Muslim, or a Christian, we all stood together shoulder to shoulder, as one unit, one team, one family, against terror," he said.
Reflecting on the first anniversary and the memorial event, El-Hozayel said, "I went back to the Nova site two days ago on October 7. It was difficult emotionally, but the police officers who survived [18 survived, 18 were killed], we were all together, giving strength to each other to move forward.”
Victim identification
Ch.-Supt. Dr. Netta Lev-Tov Chattah, head of the Document Examination Laboratory, charged with examining forged documents, and carrying out forensic handwriting comparisons, mainly in criminal cases, was also at Wednesday's memorial in Jerusalem.
She was there speaking on behalf of the police and volunteers from the police's Division of Identification and Forensic Sciences.
On Oct. 7 last year, "all of the officers working in the different police labs dropped what they were doing and joined the team to help with the DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) process," Lev-Tov Chattah told JNS. "This was an all-hands-on deck situation.
"There were people in the field taking biometrics and they were arriving at the labs and comparing materials of known individuals so you can match the postmortem data to a missing person through their biometric. It’s a meticulous scientific process," she explained.
"The challenges were immense, the sheer numbers of the deceased. Secondly, some of the bodies were basically unidentifiable—a few teeth, a few parts of bones, charred remains, it was not a straightforward process. After three weeks, most people were identified, despite the huge challenges everybody was facing at the time."
Lev-Tov Chattah praised the volunteers who joined the police dental identification unit. "You had dentists who left their work practices for weeks, who came to help with the ID process.
"It was amazing to me, because everyone was so motivated working in unison. It was a huge fleet of ships being led properly; everyone knew what they were supposed to do."
Reflecting on the memorial one year later, Lev-Tov Chattah said, “It’s difficult to put into words, we are still in the middle of it. It’s not over. We have to be prepared for anything that comes. We are very strong, very resilient, and we will keep on working together, to get ourselves through this crazy period.”
These heroes
Cheli Ganot, whose son Ch.-Insp. Dan Ganot, 41, was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade while protecting the residents of Kibbutz Be'eri, told the audience, “These heroes shouldn’t be remembered because they died, but for what they did while they were alive on behalf of this nation.”
Ganot said she has been keeping her son's memory alive by speaking to groups in Israel and abroad, emphasizing the important role the Israel Police played on Oct. 7, and each and every day when they put on their uniforms.
Elsdunne said that as a result of Oct. 7, the mindset has changed among all of Israel's police units.
Police know a terrorist attack can happen, especially now, at any time, and they need to be ready to engage. Anyone who puts on a police uniform is ready to put his life on the line. The police in Israel is diverse—made up of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Circassians and others. Our goal, bottom line, is protect the lives of civilians."
Uri Gobey, an Israeli social-media influencer and public diplomacy activist who has hosted events for IDF soldiers and raised significant funds for gear over the past year, was the key volunteer organizer for the memorial event. He was presented with a certificate of appreciation by the police for putting the evening together.
"This is the first time since October 7 the Israel police were officially recognized for their bravery over the past year as first-responders," he told JNS. "There is often a negative attitude toward police in Israel, but they deserve our respect and appreciation."
The event was promoted to the English-speaking community in both in Israel and abroad. Gobey said his goal is "to inspire the Jewish world and educate them about what life is really like here."
