When Oz Davidian’s family, at Moshav Maslul, awoke on the morning of Simchat Torah to the sound of artillery fire from the Gaza Strip, they headed toward their safe room as usual. But then Oz was told by phone that at a nature party next to what had previously been his horse farm, terrorists from Hamas had massacred partygoers. Without hesitation, Oz parted from his wife and daughters and set out to rescue the survivors. He made 15 trips into the nature party site and back while the battle was still under way, with the survivors he was rescuing crowded more than ten at a time in his pick-up truck. Under fire, he located the survivors where they were hiding; and more than once during his search, he happened into battles against the terrorists. Oz, a former policeman with a background as a combat soldier, returned fire, and when his ammunition was gone, he took a gun from a dead terrorist. On one trip, he rammed his car at terrorists who were aiming their weapons at him.
During his rescue operation, Oz encountered Yair Golan, a Major General (Res.) and a former Knesset member. Together, Oz and Yair brought dozens of survivors to safety and ensured that they told their families they’d escaped the massacre. Oz saved more than 100 young nature party participants altogether. Along the way, he passed by burnt-out police cars and saw his fellow policemen murdered. “Those atrocities must be made known to the whole world,” he said.
