Orin Gantz, whose daughter Eden Zacharia was abducted from the Nova Music Festival on October 7 and murdered while in Hamas captivity, was set to meet for the first time on Sunday with the IDF soldier who retrieved her daughter’s body during an operation in Jabaliya.
Orin says in an interview with Ynet that she has already met with IDF soldiers who helped rescue Eden, but she’s now set to meet the specific soldier who spotted her in the underground tunnel: "I'm going to meet him, and I'm going to give my lecture, 'Flying with Broken Wings' in front of his brigade, and I'm more than excited to do it for them and meet them."
How many questions do you have for him?
"The truth is that he already answered some of the questions for me over the phone. I don't know, I'm so excited, what I mainly want to know is about Eden's condition when he saw her."
What is the focus of your lecture?
"I'm very active in this field. I'm aware and involved all the time, I never rest for a moment, I'm always thinking about my next activity, that's what really keeps me occupied. Now it's Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day), so of course there's a lot of demand, especially now, to convey this message.
“I talk about Eden's story, but I mainly convey a message of hope and resilience, and a message of what we can do to change. Without asking questions of what and why, but simply what can be done today to get ourselves out of this situation and reach a better future."
In one sentence, what can we do?
"It all starts and ends with us, for example, paying attention to what comes out of our mouths, that our hands don’t reach the keyboard on social media platforms, paying attention to what we say because words can in fact be like a murder weapon."
And do you actively feel that?
"I felt it, yes. I felt that what they did to us on October 7 was physical murder, but a little before that, we murdered ourselves, one another, with words."
This is the first Memorial Day event in which you participate. Last year there were still criticisms of whether politicians should come and give speeches, this year it's even more poignant. How do you see it?
"It really varies among the families. There are families who aren’t ready for anyone to come and speak, and there are families who are. I personally respect every person who comes, from all social and political backgrounds. Whoever comes and respects me, even if I don't agree with him and even if I didn't see eye to eye with him before October 7, if he respects me and comes and has something to say, then I’ll respect him when he speaks and says a few things about Eden. I also want to really give politicians a chance to be better and really make the change they need to make after October 7."
Where do you find your strength?
"I was present on October 7 with some emotional resilience, although it was truly the hardest coping I had to do in my life, but there are tools that I implement in my daily life that help me cope, and besides that I really believe that Eden is in a much better place than us, that it's good for her there, and as long as it's good for her, it's good for me.”