5 days ago
Oct 7 hostage blasts 'terror sympathizers' who trapped her at event
About a dozen members of the University of Windsor's Palestinian Solidarity Group (PSG) surrounded the sole entrance and exit point at the venue, shouting 'Hamas is coming' as they intimidated attendees. 'I refuse to let terror sympathizers control the narrative,' Argamani said in a statement to X after the ordeal. Hamas came. Hamas kidnapped me. Hamas murdered my friends. But I won; I survived. Now, I speak for those who can't. I'll keep exposing Hamas' crimes and fighting for the hostages' release—including my partner, Avinatan.'
Argamani's boyfriend, Avinatan Or (pictured together), remains in Hamas captivity, along with 49 other hostages. Organizers have decried the group's actions, insisting they were 'harassing' Argamani in an effort to silence her and pressure her to stop speaking out about the horrors she endured. Miriam Kaplan, who chaired the event, described the incident as 'a disgraceful attempt to intimidate a survivor.'
She has called on the university to condemn the protest, maintaining: 'These students crossed the line from free speech into aggression.' No arrests were made, but Windsor Police said officers 'monitored the situation and ensured public safety' after receiving calls about a disturbance. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said: 'Blocking a hostage survivor is unconscionable. This is not a protest but intimidation of a vulnerable witness to terror.' Argamani's presence at the event had been heavily promoted ahead of the incident.
has contacted the school and PSG for comment. Argamani was rescued in a daring helicopter mission in June 2024 and has since gone on to become an outspoken survivor and critic of Hamas. She made it home just in time to say goodbye to her mom, who was dying of brain cancer. The brave survivor revealed she was held by a 'well-to-do' family but kept under armed guard, was rarely allowed to wash and never saw daylight as she was moved from house to house at night while dressed as an Arab in a bid to evade detection.
Argamani was saved along with 21-year-old Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, who were also at the Nova Festival when Hamas militants struck. She became one of the faces of the October 7 tragedy after horrifying footage went viral of her being kidnapped and taken from the Nova music festival on a motorbike. In a heartbreaking love letter to her captive love Avinatan, 30, who she met at Ben-Gurion University four years ago, Noa wrote of the October 7 horror, describing it as: 'That moment which the whole world witnessed – the moment when my heart was torn apart and has never recovered since.'
'I always promised you that we would conquer the world together, that we would grow old together, that I would be by your side through thick and thin. At that moment on October 7, I fought until the last minute so that we could go through everything together, side by side. Unfortunately, those were the last moments I saw you. Unlike the thousands of people who were murdered since October 7, you can still be saved.' Pictured: In this image from video obtained by the AP, Avinatan Or, second left, and his partner, Noa Argamani, not pictured, are seized by members of the Hamas militant group during an incursion into Israel on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023.
