(Courtesy of Young Israel of East Brunswick) The Young Israel of East Brunswick, in partnership with the Israel Action Committee (IAC), hosted former hostage Andrei Kozlov. In a moving presentation, Kozlov shared his details of being captured on Oct. 7 at the Nova Music Festival where he was working. Having arrived in Israel only 18 months earlier, Kozlov, a Russian citizen, was excited to be working at the festival until he heard the rockets and gunshots.

While running, he jumped into a passing car that eventually was stopped by Hamas terrorists. Kozlov ran, tumbled down an embankment and then saw what he thought was an undercover IDF soldier. He quickly realized that the uniform had no Israeli flag and the man spoke only Arabic. Now captured, he described the ride into Gaza as being “constantly hit and spit on by civilians” and “the worst day in my life.” He was chained up at the beginning for the first few weeks while receiving minimal food and water in an apartment. While being threatened by the terrorist watching him, he was moved to different apartments several times, all while hearing bombs overhead.

The last apartment he was in was that of the Al Jazeera “journalist” who he described as the “worst of them all.” Kozlov shared that he would constantly punish him. On an extremely hot day in May, he made him lay down on a mattress with three blankets on him all day. The “best day of his life” was June 8 when he was unexpectedly rescued by the IDF. While he could not disclose the details, the smile on his face described how he felt during the rescue.

An amazing message Kozlov shared with the hushed audience at the end was how “grateful” he was not being taken to a tunnel. He shared that “as bad as I had it, it could have been much worse.”