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Exhibit on Oct. 7 Nova Music Festival Massacre to Open in Toronto After Successful NYC Run
Nova survivor Natalie Sanandaji looks at items collected from the Nova festival at “The Nova Music Festival Exhibition: October 7th 06:29 AM, The Moment Music Stood Still” on April 18, 2024 in New York City. Photo: Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
An exhibit highlighting the victims, survivors, and atrocities that took place during the Hamas terrorist attack at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, will open in Toronto in April, it was announced on Thursday by the human rights organization The Lawfare Project, which is helping to bring the project to Canada for the first time.
“Nova: Oct. 7 6:29 AM, The Moment Music Stood Still” (also known as “The Nova Music Festival Exhibition”) will open in Toronto for six weeks from April 23 through June 8. The interactive and educational exhibit will travel to Canada following a 10-week run in Tel Aviv, where it first opened last year, and a highly successful run in New York City, which was extended “due to the overwhelming demand and excitement,” according to organizers.
Toronto is North America’s third-largest city and has the third-largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel. The venue for the exhibit in Toronto will be announced at a later date, but the installation will take over 60,000 square feet of space and become one of the largest exhibitions in Canadian history, according to The Lawfare Project.
“The Lawfare Project Canada is proud to bring the ‘Nova Music Festival Exhibition’ to Toronto,” said Brooke Goldstein, director of The Lawfare Project Canada. “While the ‘Exhibition’ honors the victims and survivors of the terrorist attack at the Nova Music Festival, it also fosters allyship as it educates and highlights the importance of defending human rights and reaffirming our democratic values.”
Hamas-led terrorists infiltrated the music festival in Re’im, Israel, during the early hours of Oct. 7, 2023, and killed 370 people, including four Canadians, and took as hostages 44 innocent music lovers who were attending the festival. During their deadly rampage across southern Israel that day, terrorists killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 captives.
The “Nova Music Festival Exhibition” honors the horrific atrocities that took place on Oct. 7 but also pays tribute to the resilience of the Tribe of Nova community in the aftermath of the attack. The installation takes visitors through a timeline of the deadly massacre, allowing them to relive the harrowing ordeal from Oct. 7 with the help of real artifacts from the site of the attack, such as burnt vehicles, bullet-stained bathroom stalls, and personal belongings abandoned by music festival attendees. The exhibit offers a recreation of the festival grounds with artifacts that visitors can interact with and showcases first-hand footage from the attack, as well as testimonies from festival survivors and bereaved family members, who will be onsite daily at the exhibit to interact with visitors.
“The story of the Nova Music Festival is one of strength, survival, love and community,” said Jesse Brown, who is the lead Canadian representative of the exhibit coming to Toronto. “This exhibit is to honor and remember the victims while also hearing the heart-wrenching stories of survivors who remind the world that we will dance again.”
“This is not a political statement. It is a reflection of what happened at a festival dedicated to love and peace,” added Evan Zelikovitz, who is also a Canadian representative of the exhibit. “It could have happened to you, your son or daughter or friend,” he said. “Come meet the survivors, meet the bereaved families, and hear about the moment music stood still.”
The “Nova Music Festival Exhibition” was created, curated, and directed by Reut Feingold. Since its opening in Tel Aviv, it has also run in Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, and Miami, and has attracted over 300,000 visitors. Celebrities who have attended the exhibit include Diplo, SIA, Usher, Jessica Alba, Will Ferrell, Kristen Bell, David Schwimmer, and Cindy Crawford, according to The Lawfare Project.
“The Nova community is centered around light, and now more than ever we need to continue to spread that message,” said Ofir Amir, founder and producer of The Nova Music Festival. “It is important, as part of our core values, that we take care of our community, help lead in the rehabilitation of the Nova survivors, and make our voices heard to the whole world.”
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Brooklyn Nets Select Israeli Basketball Players Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf in NBA Draft
The opening tip between the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards, at Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, Dec. 13, 2020. Photo: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
In a landmark night for Israeli basketball, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf were selected in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets, marking the first time two Israeli players have been drafted in the same year.
Saraf, a 19-year-old guard known for his explosive athleticism and creative playmaking, was taken with the 26th pick. A standout with Maccabi Rishon LeZion and a rising star on Israel’s youth national teams, Saraf gained international attention with his electrifying scoring and commanding court presence.
With the 27th pick, the Nets selected 7-foot center Danny Wolf out of the University of Michigan. Wolf, who holds dual US-Israeli citizenship and represented Israel at the U-20 level, brings a versatile skill set, including sharp passing, perimeter shooting, and a strong feel for the game. After his name was called, Wolf grew emotional in an on-air interview, crediting his family for helping him reach the moment.
“I have the two greatest brothers in the world; I have an unbelievable sister who I love,” Wolf said. “They all helped me get to where I am today, and they’re going to help me get to where I am going to go in this league.”
The historic double-pick adds to the growing wave of Israeli presence on the NBA stage, led by Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, who just completed a breakout 2024–25 season. After being traded to Portland last summer, Avdija thrived as a starter, averaging 16.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. In March alone, he posted 23.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game, including two triple-doubles.
“I don’t think I’ve played like this before … I knew I had it in me. But I’m not really thinking about it. I’m just playing. I’m just free,” Avdija told reporters in March
With Saraf and Wolf joining Avdija, Israel’s basketball pipeline has reached unprecedented visibility. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the moment “a national celebration for sports and youth,” and Israeli sports commentators widely hailed the night as “historic.”
Both Saraf and Wolf are expected to suit up for the Nets’ Summer League team in July. As the two rookies begin their NBA journey, they join a growing generation of Israeli athletes proving that their game belongs on basketball’s biggest stage.
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Iran Denies Any Meeting With US Next Week, Foreign Minister Says
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS
Iran currently has no plan to meet with the United States, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday in an interview on state TV, contradicting US President Donald Trump’s statement that Washington planned to have talks with Iran next week.
The Iranian foreign minister said Tehran was assessing whether talks with the US were in its interest, following five previous rounds of negotiations that were cut short by Israel and the US attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The US and Israel said the strikes were meant to curb Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons, while Iran says its nuclear program is solely geared toward civilian use.
Araqchi said the damages to nuclear sites “were not little” and that relevant authorities were figuring out the new realities of Iran’s nuclear program, which he said would inform Iran’s future diplomatic stance.
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Ireland Becomes First European Nation to Advance Ban on Trade With Israeli Settlements
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Ireland has become the first European nation to push forward legislation banning trade with Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — an effort officials say is meant “to address the horrifying situation” in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, Irish Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris announced that the legislation has already been approved by the government and will now move to the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade for pre-legislative scrutiny.
“Ireland is speaking up and speaking out against the genocidal activity in Gaza,” Harris said during a press conference.
The Irish diplomat also told reporters he hopes the “real benefit” of the legislation will be to encourage other countries to follow suit, “because it is important that every country uses every lever at its disposal.”
Today Ireland becomes the first country in Europe to bring forward legislation to ban trade with the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Ireland is speaking up and speaking out against the genocidal activity in Gaza.
Every country must pull every lever at its disposal. pic.twitter.com/Z4RTjqntEY— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) June 24, 2025
Joining a growing number of EU member states aiming to curb Israel’s defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, Ireland’s decision comes after a 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal.
The ICJ ruled that third countries must avoid trade or investment that supports “the illegal situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Once implemented, the law will criminalize the importation of goods from Israeli settlements into Ireland, empowering customs officials to inspect, seize, and confiscate any such shipments.
“The situation in Palestine remains a matter of deep public concern,” Harris said. “I have made it consistently clear that this government will use all levers at its disposal to address the horrifying situation on the ground and to contribute to long-term efforts to achieve a sustainable peace on the basis of the two-state solution.”
“Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal and threaten the viability of the two-state solution,” the Irish diplomat continued. “This is the longstanding position of the European Union and our international partners. Furthermore, this is the clear position under international law.”
Harris also urged the EU to comply with the ICJ’s ruling by taking a more decisive and “adequate response” regarding imports from Israeli settlements.
“This is an issue that I will continue to press at EU level, and I reiterated my call for concrete proposals from the European Commission at the Foreign Affairs Council this week,” he said.
Last week, Ireland and eight other EU member states — Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden — called on the European Commission to draft proposals for how EU countries can halt trade and imports with Israeli settlements, in line with obligations set out by the ICJ.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the latest move by European countries, calling it “shameful” and a misguided attempt to undermine Israel while it faces “existential” threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas.
“It is regrettable that even when Israel is fighting an existential threat which is in Europe’s vital interest — there are those who can’t resist their anti-Israeli obsession,” the top Israeli diplomat said in a post on X.
It is regrettable that even when Israel fighting an existential threat which is in Europe vital interest – there are those who can’t resist their anti-Israeli obsession.
Shameful! https://t.co/lxm9qm8sM1— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) June 19, 2025
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