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Israel’s Flag Bearer in 2024 Paris Paralympics Is Survivor of Oct. 7 Hamas Terrorist Attacks
Workers work to convert the Eiffel Tower Stadium from the beach volleyball venue to the Paralympic blind football venue for the coming Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on Aug. 18, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Wheelchair tennis player Adam Berdichevsky, who also survived the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel, is one of Israel’s flag bearers for the 2024 Paris Paralympics for athletes with physical disabilities that will begin on Aug. 28.
Berdichevsky, 41, is from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak near the Israel-Gaza border. He and his wife and three children survived the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7 by hiding in the safe room in their home for 14 hours before being rescued and evacuated to Eilat with other members of the kibbutz. Hamas terrorists murdered six people at the kibbutz that day, and took eight others as hostages back to the Gaza Strip.
“This year has been, and still is, unbearable,” Berdichevsky said in a released statement cited by Jewish News. Talking about his motivation to compete in the Paralympics this year following the atrocities of Oct. 7, he explained he has a “strong desire to represent the country during these times, and the support from my family.”
“I hope the rest of the hostages will return, which is the most important thing,” he added.
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists kidnapped over 250 people from southern Israel during their surprise invasion of the Jewish state on Oct. 7. They also murdered about 1,200 people in the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Berdichevsky will be competing this year in his third Paralympics.
The athlete, a former professional soccer player, lost his leg in 2007 during a boating accident in Thailand that killed a fellow Israeli and injured many others. When their boat capsized, Berdichevsky and his then-girlfriend jumped into the water, but his leg got sucked into the boat’s engine and was severed. He started playing tennis after rehab and went on to win the Israeli national championship six times. Berdichevsky has represented his home country as a member of the Israeli national wheelchair tennis team, winning 21 titles in international tournaments and 13 in doubles. He is currently ranked 41st in the world by the International Tennis Federation.
Israel’s second flag bearer for the 2024 Paralympics is goalball player Lihi Ben David, who competed at the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics.
More than 4,000 athletes will compete in 22 sports in the 2024 Paralympics from Aug. 28 through Sept. 8. Israel’s delegation is comprised of 28 athletes — 14 men and 14 women.
Israel won a record-breaking seven medals at the Olympics Games in Paris that concluded in early August. The country now has a total of 20 Olympics medals in its history, which include nine in judo and four in gymnastics.
The post Israel’s Flag Bearer in 2024 Paris Paralympics Is Survivor of Oct. 7 Hamas Terrorist Attacks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.