Adrien “thinks about it all the time”. On October 7, this 43-year-old Frenchman narrowly escaped the attack on the Gevim kibbutz, in Israel, where he was with his wife and their nine-month-old baby. They had spent 24 hours in isolation before escaping to reach Tel Aviv. The father of the family then testified for 20 minutes. A month later, back in Paris, he tells us about the consequences of this attack on his mental health and that of his wife.
“At the time, there was adrenaline, we didn’t have time to realize it,” he analyzes. It’s afterward that we realize. » Adrien and his Franco-Israeli wife both suffer from post-traumatic stress. For several days, whenever he heard children playing with a ball, he had the impression of hearing gunshots. When the RER passed nearby, he thought they were interception rockets taking off. When Adrien looks at his child, he has difficulty thinking of those there who were not “lucky”. “With my wife, we constantly imagine what could have happened if the Hamas men had managed to enter. »
Regular calls to the psychological unit
On October 12, five days after the attack, the couple managed to take the first repatriation flight to France. When they arrive in the capital, a crisis unit awaits them, made up of professionals from the Red Cross, Smur and Samu. “They introduced themselves and said they had a small tent far away if we wanted to come and chat. I took the papers and told them that we would contact them. » His wife was immediately taken care of by a professional from the psychological unit set up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It was done with great tact. »
Since then, his wife has called the cell’s psychologists several times a week. Because every day, as the faces of new Hamas victims are made public, she recognizes the features of an acquaintance she knew ten, fifteen years earlier. “It’s hard to say if she’s getting better. I think it dampened things more than improved them. It’s still very difficult for her. There is a before and an after. » The mother sleeps poorly. Very bad. After the events, she was unable to sleep for five days.
“It weighs on the relationship, on the couple,” recognizes the father. The duo failed to tackle the October 7 attack together. “We both don’t talk about it too much, to prevent the home from becoming a sounding board. »
“I’m a survivor and I have to be careful what I say”
A month after the attack, Adrien still has not called the psychological unit. ” Did not have time “. But he says he suffers from a certain isolation as a victim. “I lost a friend at the Bataclan. I have friends who lost their child on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. I was not as affected by the events of October 7 as they were, and it is normal that two terrorist attacks on French soil have more resonance in France than the attacks of October 7 in Israel. But if we look at the list of French victims, 39 today, it is one of the most important terrorist attacks since that of July 14, 2017, and it is surely the period when France has had the most nationals detained Held hostage. »
Le Parisien regrets the lack of support shown, according to him, to the hostages held in the Gaza Strip. “I am a survivor, a survivor, a witness to a major attack that targeted civilians, and I have to be careful what I say. » Adrien takes precautions when he is in public. “I’m not going to post the fact that I was there on October 7 for fear of people’s reaction. » However, the Frenchman would like to testify openly. He believes he has things to say about the attacks perpetrated by Hamas. “I would like to remind you who the victims were. You should know that the people who live in the kibbutz are very left-wing, very progressive. They welcomed Gazan workers regularly. They were the first to work for the humanitarian cause in Gaza. These are things I want to explain to people. »
The Frenchman remains attached to Israel. He assures him, he will return there. “Perhaps not under the same conditions but we will not forbid it. This is the story of my wife, of my in-laws. » Even if he fears the resurgence of thoughts related to the attack in the future, Adrien believes he is getting better and better. “Talking about it helps me a lot. »