Armed with a black helmet and a green bulletproof vest, Shira Shapira toured the injured kibbutzim yesterday. First in Bari, then Nir Oz and then in Kissufim. Going through the paths, following the houses and details and planning the commemoration.
Shira Shapira, director of heritage infrastructure at the Ministry of Heritage, arrived at the kibbutzim yesterday to inspect, document and plan the commemoration of what happened there. Hours after the tour began, I learned that Shira's story is particularly significant - she is the mother of the late Aner Shapira, who performed one of the great acts of heroism on that Black Sabbath. Aner stood at the entrance to the shelter where nearly 30 people had fled, and for very long minutes pushed out about seven hand grenades that the terrorists threw in, saving many of them, until the last one exploded in his hands, causing his death.
Aner Shapira, 22, the eldest of seven children, was a soldier in the Nahal reconnaissance unit and was expected to be released from military service in four months. He went out with his friend that Saturday to a party in Re'im and from there he reached Migonit, where he acted in an exemplary manner.
Aner Shapira z"l. Courtesy of the family,
"Come quickly, war has broken out"
Shira, together with her husband Moshe, tell Israel Hayom: "Aner was a man who loved people, loved justice and worked for social justice. Excelled in everything he did. He was wounded twice in the formation of the General Staff, but rehabilitated himself, underwent surgery to become a combat officer. He was a very creative man, loved music, played classical piano from the age of 6 to 18 and made electronic music."
That Saturday, Aner ate a holiday dinner with his family and went to a party. "His whole team went on holiday, he went with his teammate, Hirsch Goldberg, who is now kidnapped in Gaza, to a party. From testimonies we collected over the past month, we know that at 6:30 in the morning the interceptions began, his commander called him and told him: "Come quickly, war has broken out."
They got into the car and started driving north, he tried to reach the base of Sufa. At about 7 o'clock, because there was shooting in the area, they decided to stop the vehicle and went into a shelter that was already full of almost 30 people."
"Don't worry, I'll protect you." Aner's heroism, photo: according to section 27A
"There was a commotion there, there was a mess, and the survivors say that Aner spoke loudly and said: 'My name is Anner, I am a fighter in the Nahal Patrol. Don't worry, I will protect you.'" And someone shouted to him, "It's great to have you here."
"He took a beer bottle and broke it so he would have a weapon to stab terrorists who came in. The terrorists threw a grenade, he grabbed it and threw it out, and told everyone that this is what he was doing, and that if something happened to him, that's what they would do after him, they would throw the grenades out."
"We will treasure and document everything"
A four-minute video from a car camera released yesterday shows how for many minutes the terrorists threw grenades inside and were thrown outside. "Unfortunately, after he was killed, the terrorists broke in, killed quite a few people in the shelters and kidnapped people from there to Gaza."
Shira says: "I came to the field to meet the people and see with their own eyes the extent of the damage, the areas of horror, and to try, together with the professionals, to examine all the infrastructures so that we will be able to tell the stories accurately to future generations. The rope of resurrection will tell the story of heritage.
Together with the residents, we will preserve some of the buildings, treasure the testimonies to the stories and document everything, so that future generations will know about the horrors and heroism, the determination and resourcefulness of people who saved lives in this space."
The road to the kibbutzim passes by the shelter where her son Aner was killed after the heroic operation. "The identification took time, they knocked on our door only on Thursday. On Friday we buried Aner and on Sunday we sat shiva."
Three weeks later, she's already in the field at the peak of work. "I'm dealing with heritage, but not a legacy of yesteryear, but a legacy of now. I live in the midst of a historical event. I have to do everything to preserve this story. If we don't save now, we'll cry about it later.
How do you cope? Everything is very mixed. The private and the public mix for me, but I think everyone has a personal connection to what happened. Everyone has a son who fights, a grandson who fights. We all have a personal story, my story is terrible but it represents everyone's reality. That's part of it. That's my mission."
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