Shye Weinstein (Nova)

 

Interviewed on October 9 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYMISiqq-s4&list=PLeTp2qYNR7W5bpEVdY-y_3OURPPUmVF01&index=5

Canadian Israeli
Shai Weinstein said and his friends
raced to get away from that Festival
making a nail-biting flight to Tel Aviv
and shy is joining me now for more on
this Shai first of all I'm so sorry for
what you've had to go through and for
what you you know your friends and loved
ones are going through talk me through
this because you say when you first
heard the Rockets you thought that's not
so strange living in Israel so when did
you realize that this was
different um at some point the Rockets
picked
up and they just wouldn't
stop and there was a lot there was
Rockets from Gaza there was Rockets from
the Iron
Dome and at some point I thought I heard
gunfire in the
distance and and I told my cousin but I
wasn't sure and it made me want to pick
up when we all started going a bit
faster and
then uh we heard it get
closer and we really picked
up and I just wanted us to get out of
there as fast as possible and we got our
stuff packed up we got to the parking
lot we were in the area where everyone
had their
camps so to say where everyone was
resting during the festival so we were
already close to the parking
lot and
um you know we got there and people are
starting to panic more and
more
and I just wanted to get out and we got
our stuff in the
trunk and I'm was like I'll
drive because I
was I don't know me and one friend were
less inebriated than the others so I
said I'll drive and you guys can tell me
where to go and everybody was trying to
get
out and there was so much
traffic I thought maybe we'll
wait and then I thought this is taking
too long and
and I decided to go around
cars left and right off the
road back into the line maybe it' be
faster and then I noticed that some cars
were
empty and people were still waiting
behind
them not knowing they're
empty and I told my cousin these people
in front of us are waiting for a dead
car can you you yell them to move so we
can all leave and he got out and he told
them to go to the left and they did and
we went with them we drove up the ditch
onto the main road and the police were
directing people to a
field and we drove into the
field and at some point people were
fleeing their cars I don't know if it
was on their own or if because police
told them to so there was a combination
of people trying to drive away and
people getting out of their cars in the
middle and running on
foot and that caused people to get a
stuck as we drove into the
field my cousin's girlfriend she screams
and she says get out of the car get out
of the car and we all get out and we
started running and I grab my friend and
we ran into the field and we duck down
because there was
gunfire
and my cousin ran back to the car and we
were all freaked out and he grabbed the
car and he brought it back to us
and we all got in and we started driving
through the
field and we initially didn't know where
to go we couldn't see where to go just a
dirt everywhere dust we couldn't see we
couldn't breathe our mouths were
dry sh you say that you only slowed down
sh you say you only slowed down for
checkpoints and and bodies can you walk
me through that last that last portion
of it and how you finally out after we
after we got into the field I spotted up
on the ridge there was like Farms or
something or a Grove and they thought it
was a service road so I pointed us
towards that and we went there and
that's what it was and we took the
service road and a few other cars out
east and then north towards Tel Aviv and
as we're driving on the roads we see
abandoned cars we see cars with bullet
holes in them we see bodies on the
road uh at some point we drove through
combat there was soldiers or police I
don't remember if it was one or the
other in the road with their guns out
and they're pointing towards the right
and they had their guns out and there
was dead soldiers on the ground and some
of their cars had bullet holes in
them and we didn't want to wait there
initially backed up to get away from
them so we wouldn't get
shot but at some point we drove through
it all and we kept
going not slowing down except for other
checkpoints
well Shai I'm so glad that you did get
out
safely this whole thing sounds harrowing
I appreciate you coming on it and
telling your story to us today I know
this is something that's going to affect
you for a while but we're glad you got
out safely and wishing you and your


loved ones the best and so much strength