US hero Addir Mesika, 23, saved the lives of two women by attacking Hamas terrorists during the Israeli music festival massacre – as relatives say: ‘He knew what his end would be and he did it anyway’
A 23-year-old American in Israel died along with several of his childhood friends while rescuing their female companions at the doomed southern music festival that Hamas terrorists massacred nearly three weeks ago.
Addir Mesika, 23, from New York, was called “a true hero” by his aunt, Morielle Lotan, who said she believes the young man “knew what his end would be, and did it anyway.”
Mesika and his group, including several old friends, his girlfriend and another young woman, were resting in tents at the festival when they started hearing rocket sirens.
Palestinian terrorists had sent rockets from the nearby Gaza border in an attempt to provide cover for Hamas operatives carrying out a ground invasion.
The group of friends got into their car and drove to a small shelter nearby.
Lotan said her cousin texted his younger brother from the car about what was happening. It was not clear to any of them that Hamas terrorists had crossed the border and infiltrated the party.
Addir Mesika, 23, from New York, was called “a true hero” by his aunt, Morielle Lotan, who said she believes the young man “knew what his end would be, and did it anyway.”
Mesika was buried in Israel next to his two childhood friends who also died at the festival, Eli and Matan
When Mesika and his friends started hearing the sound of machine guns and chatter in the Arabic language, it became clear that they might be dealing with terrorists who wanted to hunt them down and kill them.
The men saw the Palestinian attackers approaching shelters similar to theirs and throwing grenades into them.
As the terrorists approached their hideout, Mesika and his best friend Eli told the two young women to hide. They then left the shelter and ordered the Hamas operatives to divert attention from the shelter.
The young men were all killed by gunfire in a heroic act of self-sacrifice. The women remained in the shelter for six hours until IDF soldiers arrived to rescue them.
Meshika, Eli, and their third childhood friend, Matan, were buried side by side in Israel.
βWe are broken and devastated, and angry, sad and worried,β Lotan said in an interview with Fox Digital.
She added that her cousin was a larger-than-life person whose friends and family will now live in his honor.
βWe all have to live a very big life in his name because that’s what he would have wanted. And we have to be meaningful with our lives because he was meaningful with his,β she said.
Lotan also said that since the tragic murder of her cousin, her family has received an unprecedented outpouring of love from the community in Israel.
βI have never seen this kind of support in all the years that Israel has existed. And it goes beyond military support. It’s person to person,β she said.
About 3,000 people attended Mesika’s funeral, many of whom told his family how much they admired their loved one’s love of life.
Mesika’s aunt, Morielle Lotan (right), recalled that her cousin was full of life and eager to serve Israel
Mesika (below left) died on October 7 while protecting his girlfriend and another girlfriend at the Nova music festival in southern Israel. His childhood friends Eli Nachman (bottom right) and Matan (top) were also killed by terrorist gunfire
Before his death, Mesika served in the IDF, in a combat engineering unit.
‘He didn’t talk about it much. It happened largely clandestinely. But he loved life. And he cared deeply that he could be free and live in a country that prioritized freedom and protected freedom.
βAnd he fought for it and stayed in the military longer than the standard mandatory service. And that’s what really drove him. I think that’s his love for life,β Lotan said.
βI think Addir would want Israel to really eradicate this kind of threat,β she said of the aftermath of the barbaric attack.
“I’m going to do my best and his family will do their best to not only take care of the immediate needs that Israel has now, but also try to be a lighthouse for what comes next and help rally the support” on the road to reconstruction and healing.β
On October 7, Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, specifically targeting the Nova music festival in the southern part of the country, near Kibbutz Re’im, where Palestinian militants massacred innocent families in cold blood.
At the music festival, held in the name of peace, Palestinian terrorists maimed innocent civilians and took hostages who are still being held in Gaza.
Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis in the October 7 attack, plunging the region into another bloody war, in which the IDF has now retaliated with dozens and dozens of deadly airstrikes in Gaza, as well as an upcoming ground offensive.