Madhura Naik, who played Mayuri in the first season of Naagin, recalled her family's terrifying encounter with Hamas terrorists last year in Israel and termed it as the 'darkest day'. She was speaking at an event in New Delhi organised by the Israeli Embassy on the one year anniversary of the October 7 Attacks. The actor also revealed that she is a Jew of Indian origin and how she her lost her cousin and brother-in-law in a crossfire in the attack that occurred in 2023.
We follow Judaism but along with that we also have adapted to Hindu traditions, thus proving that the Jews were always open to cross-cultures and adapted very well to new environments. My grandmother being the 14th child, 13 of her brothers and sisters moved back to Israel in the 70s. where they flourished back in their homeland along with their fellow Jews. It was more than just a sense of belonging. It was home for them. But unfortunately, on October 7, it was the darkest day for my family.''
''They were the victims of October 7. I lost my first cousin and her husband in a crossfire in Sderot, Israel. They were brutally murdered in front of their two daughters, six and three years old. The six-year-old, the last words before getting rescued by the Israeli police, she said, Are you the Israeli police? Please save the kid next to me," she added.
The actress said that hatred breeds terrorism and it knows no religion, race or gender. "Imagine a six-year-old having to experience the murder of her very own mother and her father and still being aware that she had to save the three-year-old baby next to her. They were rescued by the Israeli police amidst a brutal crossfire that went on for a couple of hours. An Israeli policeman was brutally injured during this rescue. The children were drenched in the blood of their own parents. This incident tore my family apart. And there are things that we could never change and things that we'll never be able to replace. Also during this crossfire, an Arab Muslim man tried to save my sister and the kids to drive them out of the crossfire. But to his fate, they killed him too, regardless of his religion, his race, and that he was very much one of them, an Arab Muslim man. So their terror knows no religion, or race, or gender, nor age,'' she concluded.
Israel vs terrorists
The conflict in Gaza escalated after the October 7 attack by Hamas, where about 2,500 terrorists breached the border into Israel from the Caza Strip, leading to casualties and the seizure of hostages. Israel has characterised its Gaza offensive as targeting Hamas' infrastructure to eliminate the entire terror group while making efforts to minimize civilian casualties.
(With ANI inputs(
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