WATCH VIDEO: ‘I want to thank God – I believe we had a miracle,’ says non-religious Israeli journalist Amir Tibon after he & his family were narrowly saved from Hamas massacre on Oct. 7
Tibon tells terrifying tale on THE ROSENBERG REPORT in exclusive one-hour special
MEGIDDO VALLEY, ISRAEL – It’s a story so terrifying and, yet, so hopeful, that veteran CBS News journalist Lesley Stahl and her crew flew all the way over to Israel from New York City to feature a story about it for its program “60 Minutes” that aired on Oct. 15.
It’s a story so moving – so compelling and hopeful – that U.S. President Joe Biden wanted to hear it for himself when he visited Israel on Oct. 18.
Israeli TV has extensively covered the story, as well.
But no TV program in the world had told the full story until Nov. 2 – that’s when THE ROSENBERG REPORT featured a one-hour special, walking through the details, step by harrowing step.
Now, ALL ISRAEL NEWS can share the previously embargoed details.
On Oct. 6, Amir Tibon – a respected Israeli journalist who serves as the Diplomatic Correspondent for the news outlet Haaretz – and his wife, Miri, and their two young daughters, were preparing for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the beautiful and peaceful agricultural community that they call home.
Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Located right on the Gaza border.
The closest Israeli community to Gaza City itself.
HOW A DREAM TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE
“It’s important to understand what we did on October 6th in order to understand what we lost on October 7,” Tibon told Joel C. Rosenberg, founder and editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS, as well as the host and executive producer of THE ROSENBERG REPORT on TBN, the most-watched Christian TV network in the United States.
“On that evening, Friday evening, there is a rehearsal at the pool of the kibbutz, because the next day, on Saturday, October 7, we are supposed to celebrate 70 years to the foundation of Kibbutz Nahal Oz.”
Amir and Miri smiled with pride as their daughters, Galia – who is 3 ½ years old – and Carmel – who is just 1 ½ years old – danced on the stage in preparation for the celebration which was to take place the day after.
As they went to bed that night, they felt happy and safe.
“How lucky are we to live on this kibbutz?” Amir told his wife as they tucked their kids into bed.
OCTOBER 7 – BLACK SABBATH
The family went to sleep feeling they were living in a dream.
But the following morning – that Black Sabbath of Oct. 7 – they woke up in a nightmare.
Without warning, Nahal Oz was infiltrated by at least 100 Hamas terrorists who murdered their neighbors, took some of them hostage, and went on a killing spree that lasted for more than ten10 hours.
“Six a.m. – we’re in bed, and we hear the whistle of a mortar that is about to land on our neighborhood,” Amir recalled.
Amir and his wife rushed to the safe room in their home, where their two young daughters were sound asleep.
Though they had become accustomed to the sound of mortars and rockets fired at their kibbutz, they had no idea what would come next.
Before long, it became clear that what was taking place was an unprecedented attack.
“We are hearing automatic gunfire on our soil,” Amir said.
Soon, it’s getting closer and closer.
The Tibons’ daughters woke up to the sound of gunfire outside their window.
And then Amir – who understands Arabic – hears a Hamas commander right outside their window giving tactical orders – “You go to that house, you go to this house.”
“As we are trying to calm them down, the terrorists are shooting into our house,” Amir explained.
“We hear them knocking on our door with hammers, trying to break it.”
“Those are the moments when we begin to think we may not come out of this alive,” Amir told Rosenberg.
WITH THE IDF NOWHERE TO BE FOUND, WHO WILL RESCUE AMIR AND HIS FAMILY?
As he and his family waited in the silence and complete darkness of their safe room, without food, without air conditioning – and with the Israeli military nowhere to be found – Amir told his parents in Tel Aviv what was going on via text messages.
Before cell coverage was cut, Amir received a response from his father.
“We’re coming to get you guys.”
Though Tibon said he couldn’t imagine his parents would get there, telling Rosenberg it sounded completely “illogical,” he decided he had to put his full and complete trust in his parents, just as he and Miri were asking their children to completely trust them.
“In the Ten Commandments in the Bible, it says, ‘Honor your father and mother,” Amir said. “That’s what I had to do.”
“If they said they’re coming, they’re coming,” he decided.
Amir’s father – Noam Tibon – is no ordinary dad.
He is a retired – and highly-decorated – IDF Major General.
A war hero with decades of leadership and combat experience.
Still, he was only armed with a 9-millimeter pistol and limited ammunition.
Amir’s mother – Gali – is a retired teacher and an expert on the history of the Holocaust in Romania, where she was born and raised.
DEAD BODIES AND BURNT CARS WERE STREWN ABOUT THE ROAD TO NAHAL OZ
The story of how Amir’s courageous parents made their way to Nahal Oz is stunning in its own right.
Racing southward to Nahal Oz from Tel Aviv, they were forced to bypass two Israeli police checkpoints, where officers were telling them it was forbidden to go south.
At the first checkpoint, they used their Jeep to go offroad and evade the police.
At the second, Gali Tibon told the officers, “We’re going to save our grandchildren. If you want to stop us, shoot us!”
Fortunately, the police did not shoot.
But what these determined parents found was something they had never seen nor imagined in their entire lives.
Dead bodies of Israeli civilians were strewn all along the roads heading to Nahal Oz.
So were burnt out and bullet ridden cars.
At one point, Tibon’s parents came across a young couple fleeing for their lives.
So, they put the couple in their car, turn around, and drove north until they could find a safe place to leave them.
“I’M GOING TO NAHAL OZ TO KILL TERRORISTS. WHO WANTS TO COME WITH ME?”
Then they turned around again and headed back south to get to Nahal Oz.
But then they ran into a group of 4 IDF soldiers with no orders.
“I’m going to Nahal Oz to kill terrorists,” said Noam Tibon. “Who wants to come with me?”
One soldier did.
They kept heading south, but they came across an IDF unit ambushed and in a firefight with Hamas terrorists.
Noam Tibon grabbed an automatic rifle from a deceased IDF soldier and joined the fight.
Soon, they had killed all the terrorists.
However, even though they were five minutes from Nahal Oz and their grandchildren, they could not continue south.
Why?
Because three IDF soldiers were severely wounded and losing blood.
So, they put the wounded soldiers in their car and Noam told his wife to race them northward to the hospital.
It’s the only way they will live.
Gali did just that – and all three commandos did survive.
“AND THEN, AN ANGEL ARRIVES”
But then, Noam Tibon was all alone.
In the middle of a war zone with no vehicle.
“And then, an angel arrives,” Amir told Rosenberg.
A man named Israel Ziv – a friend of his father’s and another retired IDF general, in his late 60’s, and armed with only a pistol – drove up.
He had heard about the disaster on the news and jumped in his car to head south to kill terrorists and save lives.
Noam explained the situation and asked Israel Ziv to take him to Nahal Oz.
He did.
TEN HOURS LOCKED IN A SAFE ROOM WITHOUT FOOD, LIGHT, OR AIR CONDITIONING
Meanwhile, Amir and his family had been locked in their bomb shelter for ten hours.
It was sweltering hot.
The girls were tired and restless and hungry.
They had been so patient – and completely quiet – for so long.
But Amir and Miri feared they were about to lose it.
All day long – amid non-stop rocket and mortar fire, and automatic gunfire – they had been whispering to the girls to hang up, “Saba” – grandpa – was coming to rescue them.
This was the only thing keeping the family from going to pieces.
But then they heard intensifying gunfire on the kibbutz.
It was getting closer and closer.
Amir says he knew the good guys were close.
“Saba is on the way.”
Soon, they heard voices outside, yelling in Hebrew.
Turning to his wife, Amir said, “My father is here, on the kibbutz.”
“SABA IS HERE!”
Sure enough, Noam and Israel Ziv had linked up with an IDF special forces unit and had been fighting against the terrorists, house by house, to get to Amir, Miri, and the girls.
Eventually, they heard a voice they will never forget outside.
“Saba is here!” cried the oldest girl.
The whole family burst into tears of joy.
For the first time in 10 hours, they were able to come out of the safe room, open the door of their house, and begin hugging “Saba.”
Soon, their house became a command center for the IDF as they continued to rid the kibbutz of Hamas savages.
They started preparing food for the soldiers and their kids, and before long, 40 of their neighbors came inside for shelter and fellowship.
“I WANT TO THANK GOD – I BELIEVE WE HAD A MIRACLE”
Near the end of the interview, Rosenberg asked Amir an interesting question.
“Are you a religious man, Amir? I’ve known you a long time, but I’ve never asked you about this. How are you processing all this spiritually?”
“I’m not religious in the practicing manner, but I do believe in God,” Amir responded.
“And I believe we had a miracle – it’s a miracle that we’re alive.”
Amir then told Rosenberg that his grandmother passed away shortly after the attack.
“A few days ago, my grandmother passed away. She was 94. She fought in the War of Independence in 1948. And it was sad to lose her, she died in her sleep, peacefully.”
Yet amidst such tragedy, Amir said he wanted to thank God.
“I wanted to thank God…that we went to her funeral last Friday, and not the other way around. It wasn’t that far from the roles being switched. And I want to thank God that the last thing that she went through in her life was hearing the story of how her son saved her grandson and great-granddaughters, and not having to come to our funeral. That…I want to thank God for that.”
There was one other miracle Amir wanted to share.
Somehow, he said, the family’s “dog did not bark.”
All day, they thought it was because their dog must have been shot and killed when the terrorists were shooting their AK-47’s into their house.
But when they came out of the safe room, they found that their dog was alive and well.
How could they explain that?
The dog should have been barking and growling non-stop.
But if it had, the terrorists may have concluded there were people inside the house and tried even harder to break in.
Amir’s mother later said it reminded her of a passage of scripture from the Book of Exodus, which speaks of God’s protection of His people while He punished Egypt for enslaving Israel and took the nation of Israel out of Egypt in the middle of the night.
“But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal. Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.” (Exodus 11:7 NIV).
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
