Tamar Biton: “I don’t know how to thank this man. He saved my son’s life. It’s a gift.”
By Shula Rosen, United with Israel
Parents of Nova Survivor Shalev Biton met for the first time last week with the Bedouin man who saved their son’s life and 31 others on October 7, 2023.
When Tamar Biton met Yunis Alkarnawi, she told the Jewish Insider, “I don’t know how to thank this man. He saved my son’s life. It’s a gift.”
Alkarnawi told the story of how seven Israelis and 24 Thai workers fled to a farm to hide from terrorists during the Hamas invasion on October 7.
Shalev and the other Israelis had ran for miles to escape from terrorists attacking those who attended the festival.
Despite initial fear and suspicion, the Israelis accepted Alkarnawi’s invitation to come inside a house on a farm and to eat, rest, and charge their phones.
The Thai workers alerted Alkarnawi and the Israelis that terrorists on motorcycles were approaching the house, and they hid.
Alkarnawi said, “At first, I hesitated to approach them, but when I saw his determination to break through the gate, I realized that if he succeeded, he would kill all 33 of us.”
He added, “It took me a couple of seconds to think of what to do. I walked to him at the gate to talk to him. And I spoke to him in Arabic, and he understood I was an Arab.”
The terrorists asked him questions, and he said he was guarding the farm but didn’t have a key.
When one terrorist demanded, “Take out the naked Jews that you’re hiding here,” Alkarnawi felt that they had seen there were Israelis hiding, but then he thought they might be bluffing.
He convinced the terrorists that there were no Jews hiding on the farm, which was an unlikely occurrence, since Hamas had shot fellow Arabs on the mere suspicion of hiding Jews.
“I’m not religious, but during those moments, I took my right hand, covered my eyesm and said the Shema, because in those moments, I thought that was my only hope,” Shalev said.
When asked how he accounted for the terrorist suddenly going away without searching the farm or harming him, Alkarnawi simply pointed to the sky, indicating that it was only through help from Above.