Nova Party Security Chief Received Hamas Attack Warning a Week Before Oct. 7

Elkana Federman, the security officer for the Nova music festival, revealed that he received a recording a week before the October 7th Hamas attacks containing a warning about potential "trouble" during the Sukkot holiday. The recording, sent on September 26, 2023, was from a soldier serving in the Gaza Division, who indicated that a senior officer in the division had hinted at possible disturbances during Sukkot.

Federman stated that he forwarded the recording to his superiors, who he assumes checked it with the army and assured him that "everything is fine." He admitted that while he never believed Hamas was fully deterred, he could not have imagined an attack on the scale of October 7th. Federman criticized the prevailing mindset before the massacre, describing it as a "conspiracy trap," where the approach to Gaza was overly optimistic, likening it to "Gaza Disneyland."

He emphasized that the recording reflected feelings among soldiers on the ground rather than concrete intelligence about the October 7th attack. Federman noted that soldiers sensed something was happening and observed unusual Hamas activity and training exercises prior to the attack, but these concerns were not heeded.

Federman, who was a civilian security coordinator for the party, stated his actions were limited, and he did his duty by passing on the information. He asserted that if he had known it was a genuine warning of a large-scale attack, he would have acted differently, potentially contacting figures like Itamar Ben-Gvir to prevent it. Like many others, Federman only realized the severity of the situation on the morning of October 7th with the start of rocket fire from Gaza around 6:29 AM.