Место терактов 7 октября стало самым посещаемым туристическим объектом Израиля

The site of the October 7 Nova festival attack has become Israel’s most visited destination, drawing thousands of daily visitors alongside new security lessons Israel says it has learned. Major (Res.) Adam Ittah, spokesman for the Southern District of Israel’s Home Front Command, told The High Street Journal that the location near Kibbutz Re’im continues to draw groups from around the world seeking to understand the October 7, 2023 attacks and how Israel responded. He described dozens of groups arriving daily. Earlier tracking by the Jewish National Fund, which manages the memorial, had put average attendance at around 7,000 visitors a day, or close to 200,000 a month over a several month stretch, making it the organization’s most visited site in the country at the time. Ittah said the attacks exposed gaps in Israel’s security and emergency response systems, and that authorities have since focused on identifying and correcting those weaknesses across preparedness and response structures, particularly for communities in border areas considered vulnerable. Describing the scale of the threat Israel had underestimated, he said, “we forgot for a minute.” He added that the country has worked to rebuild its readiness and response capacity since, and said Israelis want to live in peace and hope for conditions that would let communities on both sides of the border coexist safely. The visits to the festival site sit within a broader pattern of tourism tied to the October 7 attacks and the war that followed, with organized tours taking visitors to memorial sites, former roadside shelters and kibbutzim along the Gaza border. A separate touring exhibition, built around items recovered from the festival grounds, has also been staged in several American cities. That exhibition has drawn both large crowds and public criticism. Its New York run attracted more than 100,000 visitors but also drew protesters who rejected how the exhibition framed the events and voiced opposition to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, a dispute that reflects broader disagreement over how October 7 and the war since have been portrayed and remembered. Ittah framed the growing visitor interest in the festival site and similar locations as an opportunity to raise awareness of emergency preparedness and civilian protection, work he described as central to the Home Front Command’s ongoing mission.