26 | DECEMBER 14 • 2023 J
N

W

e are moving tar-
gets.
”

Those were the 
words that made Millet Ben 
Haim realize what she was run-
ning from — Hamas terrorists 
overrunning the Nova Music 
Festival, killing everyone in 
sight. It was not a dream; it was 
real. 
Millet is a part of a network 
of survivors from the Nova 
music festival massacre who 
travel around the United States 
as a part of the initiative “Faces 
of Oct. 7,
” speaking to commu-
nities, government bodies and 
universities and sharing what 
they experienced that day. 
On Nov. 27, the Jewish 
Federation of Detroit and the 
JCRC/AJC hosted Millet in 
Detroit. During the Q and A 
session, Millet was asked if it 
was difficult for her to repeat 
this story over and over again, 
constantly reliving it. She said 
that she already relives it every 

second of every day, and at least 
this way she can share it with 
others and feel less alone.
 The Nova Music festival 
was supposed to be a place 
for young people like her to 
feel safe and free. This was 
a community of people who 
were armed with sparklers and 
bubbles, dressed in ridiculous 
costumes and outfits because 
they knew this was a place of 
freedom. They had no idea that 
it would turn into a nightmare. 

 When the rocket fire started 
and the music stopped at 6:29 
a.m., many didn’t think too 
much of it. Rocket fire is rela-
tively common in this part of 
the country, especially this close 
to the border with Gaza. But 
Millet had a strong feeling that 
she and her friends needed to 
leave the festival immediately.
Millet grabbed her friend’s 
keys and drove her group out of 
the festival. She started to hear 
gunshots, and people began to 

flee in a panic. The gunshots 
were getting louder and more 
frequent. She realized that the 
exit was blocked by terrorists. 
She made a U-turn, only to 
find more partygoers running 
toward her from the opposite 
direction. There were terrorists 
at the other end of the road as 
well, shooting at everyone as 
they fled. Millet and her friends 
were completely surrounded 
by an unknown number of 
terrorists on motorcycles, in 
cars and flying above them on 
paragliders. With nowhere to 
drive, she decided to ditch the 
car and run through the fields 
with others for safety. 
The rocket fire and the 
shooting never ceased. While 
desperately running through 
the fields, she saw people fall-
ing alongside her. She just kept 
running, ignoring the very idea 
or the possibility that those 
people who fell may never get 
back up. 

A glimmer of hope: She saw 
a group of IDF soldiers stand-
ing about 50 meters away and 
started to run toward them 
until she noticed that they 
were carrying RPGs, which are 
not used by the IDF. Scared, 
confused and disoriented, she 
followed her gut and led her 
group of friends to run east, 
following the sun because it was 
away from Gaza. The adren-
aline made it feel like she had 
run for 10 minutes, but they 
ran nonstop for two hours. 
With what little phone bat-
tery she had left, she called 
the police. They told her that 
there was nothing they could 
do. They didn’t have any offi-
cers to send because of the 
scale of what was happening 
across southern Israel, with 
the kidnappings and murders 
everywhere, and hordes of ter-
rorists marauding through the 
country. They warned her not 
to approach any nearby villages, 
as they’
d all been overrun by 
terrorists. As they kept moving, 
they began to see smoke rise 
from the burned-out villag-
es around them. There was 
nowhere for them to go. They 
were on their own. 
Millet tried to call her family 
and share her location with her 
friends scattered from the party, 
but she had no cell service. The 
group knew that they had to 
keep moving. “We’re moving 
targets,
” a friend told her. 
But eventually the terrorists 
caught up with them, and her 
group made a desperate attempt 
to hide. Millet hid in a bush 
and covered herself in what 
few leaves she could find lying 
around. She heard the terrorists 
approaching by foot, getting 
closer, close enough to hear 
their footsteps, their talking and 
laughter. She even saw one of 
them, but amazingly, he didn’t 
see her. She could do nothing as 
one of the people she was run-

OUR COMMUNITY

Federation and JCRC/AJC hosted a 
survivor of the Nova Music Festival.
‘We are Moving Targets’

DANIEL BUCKSBAUM AND LIOR ZISSER-YOGEV
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Millet Ben Haim 
addresses the 
audience in 
Metro Detroit.