Shalev Biton ran five miles across open ground to escape the Nova Festival massacre on October 7, 2023, ending up at a farm managed by a stranger who would decide, in the span of a few terrifying minutes, whether to turn him over or risk everything to hide him. That stranger, Yunis Alkarnawi, chose to hide him. Nearly three years later, the two men were hosted together at New York City Hall.
A City Hall Reunion Years in the Making
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and fellow council members hosted Biton and Alkarnawi at City Hall on September 23, in an event held in partnership with UJA-Federation of New York, according to JNS. The outlet reported that Biton escaped the festival grounds just in time, finding refuge at Alkarnawi's nearby farm along with 32 other attendees. JNS described Alkarnawi, who is an Israeli Bedouin, as having saved Biton and many others that morning.
Speaker Menin referenced the same meeting in remarks to JNS, saying that the council had recently hosted Nova Festival survivors Shalev Biton and Alkarnawi as part of remembering the estimated 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage in the October 7 attack. Alkarnawi told the armed men searching for survivors that there were no Jews on the farm.
Five Miles to a Stranger's Dining Room
Biton and other festivalgoers had run the five miles from the party in Re'im to the farm before seeking refuge there, according to a detailed account from Jewish Insider. Once they arrived, the outlet reported, Alkarnawi invited Biton and his friends into his dining room, gave them food and water, and let them charge their phones. In total, Jewish Insider reported, Alkarnawi saved the life of Biton, who was 25, along with seven other young adults and 24 Thai farm workers who were also on the property that day.
The greatest danger came when armed men showed up looking for the people hiding inside. Jewish Insider's reporting states that Alkarnawi confronted the approaching terrorists and eventually convinced them to move on, in part by telling them he was a Muslim father of six. He did not reveal that dozens of people were sheltering just steps away.
A Family's Gratitude, an Unlikely Friendship
Months after the attack, Biton's parents, Tamar and Avner Biton, traveled to meet Alkarnawi at his home in Rahat, the same Jewish Insider account reports. Tamar Biton's reaction was simple and direct: he saved her son's life, and she called it a gift. The bond formed that day at the farm had clearly outlasted the initial crisis, turning a chance encounter between strangers into an ongoing relationship between two families.
Biton's account is not the only one tying survival to Alkarnawi's farm. Atir Vinnikov, another Nova Festival survivor, has separately described being sheltered there, according to Pipe Dream. In Vinnikov's telling, Alkarnawi told the armed men there was nobody else on the farm with him, and the men left after roughly 15 minutes of arguing. Vinnikov has said plainly that his life was saved by a Muslim Bedouin named Yunis.
Telling the Story Again and Again
Biton has continued sharing his account of that day in various settings, describing the act of retelling it as a kind of therapy, per eJewishPhilanthropy. He has said the storytelling helps show the world what survivors actually went through. The City Hall appearance was one more stop in a story that has traveled well beyond the farm where it began, including a recent appearance alongside Alkarnawi at a protest in New York tied to a film premiere, as reported by the Times of Israel.
