Nissim Louk, the father of Shani Louk, z"l, who was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7, spoke to 103FM about his confrontation with Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev in Jerusalem and shared claims he said he heard from her that raised questions for him.
According to Louk, Regev approached him following the incident and told him that her daughter had been evacuated at 4:30 a.m.
“Miri Regev came to me after everything and said that her daughter was evacuated at 4:30 in the morning. They evacuated her before all of this happened. I don’t want to ask all these questions. If this is true, then there are things here that we don’t understand at all," he said.
Louk also recounted his confrontation with Regev.
“I saw Miri Regev’s trailer, with people taking pictures next to it. I was probably already angry, and suddenly the ‘Mizrahi’ issue came up. I told them, ‘You caused the murder of my daughter on October 7.’ Miri Regev was somewhat surprised and immediately went into her trailer. She disappeared completely," he recalled.
“Some people from her entourage came over to me, pretty hardcore Bibi supporters. Not that I have anything against Bibi supporters, but they came and told me, ‘You caused October 7.’"
Louk said he repeatedly accused the government of responsibility for the circumstances that led to the massacre.
“I kept repeating, ‘You murdered Shani Louk,’ and ‘You paid Qatari money’ - $100 million a month. With that money, they bought the bullet that killed my daughter. Who paid for it? Bibi Netanyahu, from his office," he said.
“My strongest question was: How could Netanyahu do such a thing? How could a right-wing government, with right-wing people sitting in the Cabinet, make such a decision? I came to the conclusion that Netanyahu is steering the wheel according to his own wishes, and that he is actually a left-winger."
Louk concluded by calling for national unity and a change in Israeli society.
“My daughter’s name is Shani. Shani is a very unusual name. It speaks of change, of something new that is supposed to happen. What is Shani? Shani is - the Left against the Right [a play on the Hebrew acronym]. Therefore, we are obligated to lower the flames.
“We owe a blood debt to 3,000 children. That blood is connected to the entire people of Israel. The soldiers running into battle know that they have a debt to that blood, and that debt will not disappear until we make a change.
“There must be a change among the people of Israel. We need to restore honesty, the values we were raised on, love, justice and religion. We need to reclaim our land, touch it and understand that it is ours. Netanyahu cannot be giving away the land."