On Tuesday, August 27, Lt. Col. Yaron Buskila was in the Operations Room in Rafah helping with the rescue of the hostage, Qaid Farhan al-Qadi. On Thursday, August 29, Lt. Col. Buskila spoke about the Israel-Hamas War and his 24 years in the Israel Defense Forces to more than 40 people at Congregation Ahavath Sholom in Forest Hills.
Rabbi Mendy Hecht of the Chabad of Forest Hills North coordinated and sponsored the event.
Lt. Col. Yaron Buskila received the Israeli Presidential Award in 2017. Despite being shot in his foot and back, Buskila eliminated a terrorist who just murdered a mother and her daughter inside their home in Samaria. Buskila is currently a Deputy Brigade Commander in the Reserves.
On October 7, 2023, Buskila went to sleep at 2 a.m. “happy after celebrating Simchat Torah and Shabbat.” At 6:30 a.m., “the siren starts” because of incoming rockets. Buskila calls his Division Commander who asks him to report to his base near Gaza. It normally takes 45 minutes from Tel Aviv for Buskila to get to his base. It took 3 hours. The Israeli police had set up checkpoints to stop the more than 4,000 terrorists infiltrating Israel.
Israel’s Channel 12 News journalist Omri Maniv recently reported that 6,000 terrorists infiltrated Israeli territory on October 7. More than 3,800 were Hamas Nukhba terrorists, 2,200 were Gazan “civilians” – terrorists and looters, and 1,000 Hamas terrorists fired towards Israel from within Gaza. In total, 7,000 terrorists fired at and infiltrated Israel that morning of Simchas Torah.
When Buskila got to his base, he was shot at from two different directions. He didn’t have a gun but took one from a dead Israeli soldier. More than 40 terrorists had overrun his base. He hid behind a wall, turned around, and a “huge” terrorist was in front of him. “I had to push him so I can take the gun and shoot him. That’s how close he was.” The terrorist had a lot of grenades and a gun on him but was killed.
Only four other Israeli soldiers were at Buskila’s base. He got a call from Gil, a helicopter pilot, circling his base asking him, “What’s my mission?” The pilot got Buskila’s cell-phone number from headquarters in Tel Aviv. “They told me that you’re the Chief Operations Officer and you’re not answering the phone inside the Operations Room.” Buskila ordered the helicopter pilot to shoot a missile into that room filled with terrorists. It was a direct hit.
Buskila took his car to Kibbutz Re’im to set up a new base. He got an empty room, chairs, and desks, but no computers, no radio, and no satellite connection.
Buskila got about 15 calls on his personal cell phone from people asking for help. Their family member or friends are hiding by the Nova Music Festival and other places. He got a call from Kibbutz Nirim from a man saying, “Many terrorists are trying to break into our safe room. I am holding the (door) handle.” They were not saved. It took terrorists only 15 minutes to overrun Kibbutz Nir Oz. Buskila didn’t get any calls from anybody there.
“I couldn’t understand how vast the attack was,” said Buskila. Terrorists from Gaza had infiltrated from 85 different places. The Israeli Army had prepared for infiltrations from three places. The soldiers at the forward positions around Gaza were mostly observers with binoculars and not heavily armed.
After killing Israelis in their cars, terrorists “stole everything. We couldn’t even find one battery in a car.” The terrorists then lit a fire in the gas tank of cars, burning everyone inside.
The Israeli Army had three immediate goals: 1) Block the way back into Gaza, because “they are just kidnapping whoever they can,” said Buskila. The Israeli helicopters were firing missiles at cars going back to Gaza. 2) Evacuate Israelis left in the villages because terrorists were still there. 3) “To finally locate some of the terrorists that were hiding around the villages and hiding in some of the Israeli fields.”
Hamas had a special unit equipped with large bags of food and ammunition so they could hide for a month inside Israel. The last Hamas terrorist killed inside Israel was a month later in an avocado farm.
“I felt shame. I felt anger. I couldn’t believe this happened to us. To see Jewish people, babies, old people, like bodies everywhere. It was a disaster,” said Buskila.
Buskila drew inspiration from a stanza in the Friday night prayer, L’cha Dodi:
“Shake off the dust. Rise up from them! Wear glorious clothes, my people, my gem. Through the son of Yishai of Bethlehem. Redeem my soul. Draw near to my side. Go forth, my love...”
Buskila saw signs of victory. Using video and pictures on a screen, he showed “an endless line of civilian cars who came down without being called.” Some 350,000 Israeli Reserve soldiers showed up the next day. “Nobody asked them to come.” “…Jewish people coming to fight, to rescue our brothers and sisters.”
“Right-wing, Left-wing, Ultra-Orthodox, Ashkenazi, Sefardi, everyone” are in the Israeli Army. “This is the redemption. The redemption is not just Mashiach on a white donkey, the fog, coming with the chauffeur. The redemption is when all of the Jewish people coming close together, sitting together, helping each other, feeling a responsibility to each other.”
“One week later, Jewish people from all over the world came to Israel to give sandwiches, socks, undershirts – they wanted to give anything.” Some asked to fight but due to their lack of Israeli Army training, “they gave moral support.”
“This is not a war just for Israelis, but all of the Jewish people. The Hamas charter wants to kill every Jewish person, even dthose who would hide behind a rock or a tree,” as it says in the Quran,” said Buskila.
Jews have lived in fear while in exile due to persecution, pogroms, massacres, etc. “We are not that nation anymore. We have the IDF. We are a people coming to fight,” said Lt. Col. Yaron Buskila.
At least four NYPD Officers, including a Sergeant, were observed patrolling the event. A security guard at the door only let in people who pre-registered.
Rabbi Mendy Hecht began the evening by saying the prayer Jews say on the Yamim Nora’im: “Torah, T’filah, and Tz’dakah take away the evil decrees.” Charity boxes were in the lobby. T’hilim 20 was said “for our brothers and sisters in Israel and Jews world over,” said Rabbi Hecht.
Future speakers are planned by the Chabad of Forest Hills North. For more information, contact Rabbi Mendy Hecht at 347-642-7166. Their services are held at 110-40 70th Road in Forest Hills. Their website is chabadfhn.com.
By David Schneier
