On December 18, 2010, British Israeli tour guide, Tal Hartuv, and her American Christian friend, Kristine Luken, were hiking in the Mata forest near Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem. What began as a peaceful outing turned into a deadly, bloody nightmare when two Palestinian Arab terrorists ambushed them. The attackers bound and gagged the women, tormenting them before stabbing Luken to death in a brutal execution. They mistakenly believed she was Jewish. Hartuv, stabbed multiple times with a machete—suffering 18 wounds, over 30 broken bones, and a near-fatal chest injury—survived by playing dead and later escaping to seek help.

Fifteen years later, marking the "anniversary," Hartuv, amid fresh anguish, shared reflections on the Inspiration from Zion podcast. (Follow the entire conversation here.) She shared her raw emotions, particularly in light of current events: the release of one of her attackers as part of a ceasefire and prisoner release, and following the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Hartuv does not mention the names of the terrorists who attacked her and Luken, preferring not to give them the recognition or waste the oxygen that she wishes they were not consuming. She does not relive the gruesome details that still create trauma, but which are sometimes necessary to establish the evil that she confronted. As a result of the prisoner release, one of the two Palestinian Arab terrorists, who were both convicted of attacking her and murdering Luken, was set free, something which she anticipated might........

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