ISRAELI CHOSEN TO LIGHT INDEPENDENCE DAY TORCH FOR OCT 7 ACTION CANCELS DUE TO THREATS

Israeli Chosen to Light Independence Day Torch for Oct 7 Action Cancels Due to Threats

Nasreen Yousef, a resident of the southern Israeli moshav Yated, interrogated terrorists who infiltrated her area on October 7, but members of the community response team said she had exaggerated her role in thwarting the attack. She says she cancelled because of threats to her and her family

May 05th, 21PM May 05th, 21PM

An Israeli-Druze resident of the southern Israeli twon of Yated, Nasreen Yousef, who was selected to light a torch on Independence Day because of her role in rescuing the Gaza border community on October 7, has decided not to participate in next week's ceremony due to attacks by Arabs who recognized her and media threats.

After Yousef's selection for the beacon ceremony was publicized in January, members of Yated's response team claimed that the reports about her part in saving the town were incorrect and "blown out of proportion." Yousef revealed that she has decided not to take part in the ceremony after receiving threats.

In January, Channel 12's entertainment show Good Evening with Guy Pines reported that Yousef had interrogated two terrorists who had infiltrated the moshav in Arabic, and that the information she retrieved from them helped protect the town and hit at other terrorists who tried to infiltrate it. In an interview with Pines, she said: "If I hadn't gone out, most of our community probably wouldn't be here now." None of the residents of Yated were murdered or kidnapped on October 7.

About two months after the interview, several reports dismissed her claims and in March the moshav's community response team issued a statement in which they said that "the story of Moshav Yated as published in the media is not compliant with the truth and is a fabricated story." A member of the response team who fought in the moshav told Haaretz today that Yousuf did help understand what the terrorists said, but "it's a long way off from the stories that she directed the forces."

He was referring to the interview with Pines, in which Yousuf said that she had directed the response team to a greenhouse on the moshav on the basis of information provided by the terrorists. Another member of the team said he and his fellow team members were "in an unpleasant situation, but we think the truth must be told. It does a great injustice to those who saved Yated and to those who were murdered in battles with the terrorists."

A statement last week that Yousuf was among those chosen to light a torch in the name of the "rescuers" stated that, "Yousuf took a brave decision to leave her home and interrogate the terrorists in order to try to gain information from them, and extracted very valuable information and directed the members of the community response team."

Yousuf and Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is in charge of the torch-lighting ceremony, said today that Yousuf's decision not to take part in the ceremony followed threats to her life and the lives of her family. According to Yousuf, she was attacked by Arabs who recognized her and "ripped a Star of David necklace" from her neck. She said she had decided not to participate in the event to protect her family members from "media threats."

2024-05-05T18:22:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd