Nova nightmare: Festival survivors take on State of Israel in massive lawsuit

The scale of death and devastation from the Nova Music Festival attack on Oct. 7, 2023, is difficult to comprehend.

Some 364 people were murdered at the outdoor event near Kibbutz Re’im, attended by 3,500 partygoers –representing nearly one-third of the 1,200 people killed by Hamas terrorists during their mass invasion of the northwestern Negev. Many were wounded, and at least 40 were kidnapped to Gaza as hostages. There were widespread reports of rape and sexual abuse, including gang rape.

Hamas' attack revealed significant intelligence shortcomings within Israel, as the government did not take preemptive action despite receiving multiple warnings. The inability to grasp Hamas' capabilities and intentions may have stemmed from outdated assumptions, fostering a misguided sense of invincibility. Israeli officials perceived Hamas as a controllable threat, underestimating its commitment to violence and genocidal ambitions.

Legal reckoning

The staggering death toll at Nova has spurred survivors and families to pursue legal accountability from the IDF, the Shin Bet and the national police force. Forty-two survivors filed a landmark 200-million shekel (approximately $55 million) lawsuit, citing gross negligence that enabled the massacre. 

The petition asserts that ‘just one simple phone call from IDF officials to the festival commander warning of risks could have saved lives by prompting the immediate dispersion of attendees.’ It highlights that the Gaza Division operations officer explicitly objected to hosting the event, flagging security challenges and how to cover it with security when soldiers would be taking time off for the Simchat Torah holiday. Despite such warnings, authorization was still granted. 

The lawsuit also alleges that insufficient security resources were allocated, with inadequate police numbers and equipment given the demands. Overall, a bewildering failure to take decisive, preventative action permeates the allegations, as neither the IDF nor the police relayed any security issues to Nova's 3,500 participants as concerns mounted. Even amid initial terrorist infiltration reports, no order came to close the festival and evacuate civilians offsite.

Unprecedented lawsuit in unprecedented times

If successful, the 200-million shekel lawsuit would mark Israel's largest-ever legal judgment against the state and security establishment. The IDF, National Police, and Shin Bet face intense scrutiny for negligence that enabled the disaster.

One particular sentence in the lawsuit offers a window into how the general Israeli public feels these days: “The lawsuit explicitly clarifies that its purpose is not to replace the forthcoming National Commission of Inquiry. Instead, it focuses specifically on addressing the omissions and negligence leading up to the party. This includes scrutiny of the approval and licensing process, along with the failure to issue an order for the dispersion of Nova party participants to their homes, despite the notifications received.”

The uncompressed desire for answers surrounding the Nova festival intelligence failures permeates the victims' petition. More broadly, it encapsulates a country grappling with traumatic vulnerability in the aftermath of an attack that shook national consciousness.

One can only wonder if the state sponsors of Hamas terrorism - Iran and Qatar - should bear the financial costs rather than Israeli taxpayers. Given years of financing and arming Hamas, Iran and Qatar could be reasonably argued to share moral responsibility for the attack's devastation. Perhaps these terrorist benefactors, not Israeli citizens, should rightly cover survivors’ damages.

But for now, the reality remains that the Nova families’ unprecedented legal action puts the accountability spotlight squarely on Israel's security establishment. The 200-million shekel negligence lawsuit ensures heavy scrutiny and reckoning over disgraced institutional failures that enabled national tragedy to unfold.

As multiple errors compound into a traumatic attack inflaming Israeli consciousness, difficult questions lie ahead on how such stunning disasters were allowed to occur in the first place.