On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, Tenafly High School’s Jewish Student Union Club (JSU) and Combating Antisemitism Club organized an event in the school’s library, bringing in Natalie Sanandaji, a Jewish-Persian-American activist and Nova Festival survivor, to speak with the students and staff about her experience during the October 7 attack on Israel.
Sanandaji, born and raised in Long Island, New York, worked in real estate before becoming involved in activism. During the summer of 2023, she planned to go to a friend’s wedding, leading her to attend the Nova festival, where she was attacked by the Hamas terrorists who had infiltrated Israel. This celebration was known as a “nature festival” as it typically takes place in the desert or woods and lasts anywhere from 24 hours to three days. In Sanandaji’s case, she was initially confused why the party was being held so close to the Gazan border, but her friends reassured her that it was normal and that nothing bad could happen.
During the event, she spoke about how, on the morning of the attack, she was initially in disbelief. She thought it was a regular rocket attack and that it would be over as soon as it started. That was until she began counting, at first it was five rockets, then ten, then hundreds being fired from Gaza. She and her friends ran to her car, expecting to be on the highway back home by the time the rockets stopped.
Then, the first gunshot was heard, and festival goers were told to abandon their cars and to just run. People were confused because, in situations with rockets, you don’t typically run away from them. The moment that the gunshot was heard, people instantly jumped out of their cars and fled. No one was given directions on where to go, who to call, or what to do. Anything was better for them than to be sitting and waiting for the terrorists to come get them. This was a “choiceless choice,” Sanandaji said. She recalled a moment in which she had to make another choice: when she was running away from the terrorists, she saw a few friends of hers that were lying in a ditch, hoping to hide until the chaos ended. “One of the three friends I originally came with, he was standing over the ditch and kind of staring down at us, and I guess he automatically thought to himself, ‘If I was a terrorist and found these people in a ditch, what would I do to them?’” Sanandaji said. “And obviously, his first thought was, ‘I would shoot them right on the spot.’ He started screaming at all of us and said, ‘You know if we’re going to survive, we have to continue running at all times.’” Because of her friend’s warning, she was able to live another day to tell her story. Those who stayed in the ditch, however, did not make it out alive.
She witnessed terrorism firsthand, leading her to become a Public Affairs Officer for the Combating Antisemitism Movement (CAM) and allowing Tenafly to host her as a guest speaker to share her story.
Coming in from a college speaker background, Sanandaji hadn’t realized how supportive the Tenafly High School community was. With each sentence she spoke, the library grew more crowded to the point where so many students missed their lunch that they had to eat in their next class. “I know I can’t educate the whole world—but I can start with my classmates, my teachers, and my community,” Adi Weissman (’26), event organizer, said. “The truth in Natalie’s story has the power to create change. When my classmates hear it, it can shape their perspectives, spark conversations, and ultimately influence the next generation.” Sanandaji’s story impacts so many on a daily basis, and it leads others, such as Weissman, to be able to pass this impact on as well. After the event, several students remained to ask her questions to further their understanding of her story and to tell her how grateful they were for her bravery.
