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London mayor Sadiq Khan visits Nova festival exhibit, meets with survivors of Hamas massacre
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan visited the Nova Exhibition in London on Thursday, where he met with survivors and relatives of victims of the Hamas attack on the Gaza border area music festival on October 7, 2023.
Khan’s visit came after criticism from organizers who claimed he was trying to avoid the exhibition amid a surge in anti-Israel activity in the UK since October 7.
The exhibit, which opened in May and will close on July 15 after its original run was extended, is an immersive experience that recreates scenes from the massacre that unfolded at the music festival when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists poured into Israel on the morning of October 7. In total, 364 people out of the roughly 1,200 who were killed that day were murdered at the festival or while trying to flee the grounds to safety.
While touring the exhibit, Khan met with British-Israeli survivor Sean Burns, whom Khan described as “inspiring,” and with Nova festival co-founder Ofir Amir, who was injured while escaping the attack.
Amir, Khan said, “wants us to remember his friends and those who were there at the festival as human beings.”
“As time goes on, the concern is that we’ll forget them, they’ll be forgotten, and it’s really important that they’re not forgotten,” Khan said, stressing that it was “worth reminding ourselves of the horrors of that awful day.”
Exclusive. @MayorofLondon visited the @novaexhibition today and met a Nova music festival survivor.
Since October 7th, London has become a hub of anti Israeli hatred with people justifying and even celebrating the Hamas massacre.
This visit by Mayor Khan – a vocal critic of… pic.twitter.com/ioQuPXG906— Elad Simchayoff (@Elad_Si) July 9, 2026
The London mayor also drew comparisons between the deadly slaughter at the music festival and the Manchester Arena terror attack in 2017, when 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in the northern England city.
“When you look at the photographs of those who lost their lives, you’ll see the diversity of ages — from kids as young as 19, their 20s, their 30s, and their 40s, even in their 50s, whose common theme was their love of trance music, their love of rave,” Khan said. “And they left home, leaving their loved ones behind, expecting to see them the next day, never to return.”
“There are too many people around the world trying to divide people, divide communities, and music, fun, congregation are the things we all share,” he remarked.
Khan, who has been the mayor of London since 2016, urged the public to visit the exhibit before it closes next week, saying its importance transcended “what religion you belong to, which god you worship, what your politics are, what your views are on any particular issue.”
“It’s about coming to see for yourself what happened on that day,” Khan said. “But if you’re lucky, you get the chance to meet a survivor and that experience will touch you, I promise.”
During his visit, Khan also met with Avivit Abady Yablonka, whose brother Hanan Yablonka was killed while fleeing the Nova festival and his body abducted to Gaza, and with survivor May Hayat, who was working at the festival with her friend, Liron Barda, who was killed while trying to help the wounded.
The Nova Exhibition noted that Khan’s visit fell on what would have been the 29th birthday of British-Israeli musician Jake Marlowe, who was murdered while working as part of the security detail at the festival.
Khan’s visit came after he was criticized by the exhibition organizer, Jo Woolfe, who told The Jewish News that the mayor had turned down several invitations to attend during the exhibit’s original run.
Woolfe told the outlet that when the mayor’s office eventually responded with his availability, they suggested dates that were after the exhibit would have closed, had its extension not already been in the works.
“They probably said that because we were supposed to be closing on the fifth. I knew we were extending, but they didn’t,” Woolfe told the Jewish News, although she acknowledged that she had no proof to back up her suggestion.
Khan’s office denied her claim, telling the outlet that it only offered dates in July after the announcement that the exhibition’s run would be extended.
