Israel is bracing for possible terror attacks, including the firing of long-range rockets from Gaza, as the anniversary of October 7 looms on Monday.
On Sunday, a gunman burst into the central bus station in the southern city of Be’er Sheva, wounding at least seven people before being killed. (Update: One person was reported killed and ten wounded.) The country will remain on high alert for similar attacks.
Meanwhile, Israelis are preparing for a variety of commemorations of the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023, which launched a war that has lasted a year.
The war has seen a transformation of Israel’s security situation. Hamas has largely been destroyed in Gaza; Hezbollah is being dismantled in Lebanon; Israel’s air defenses have absorbed attacks from Iran and responded to attacks from as far away as Yemen.
But the hole in the hearts of Israelis and Jews throughout the world may never quite be filled.
In Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest hit communities, survivors and families of the fallen will hold a special ceremony on Monday. President Isaac Herzog, a unifying figure, will tour affected communities for three days.
Herzog issued a message to those commemorating the day throughout the world:
Dear sisters and brothers from all around the world- Shalom to all of you, from the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
Today marks a full year since the earth shook, since the worst of human brutality and hatred ripped apart our sense of safety, and changed our world forever. A year since our women, our children, our old people, were hunted down in their beds, burned to death, beheaded, raped and shot. A year, since the gathering of our beautiful young people turned into a scene of carnage, torture and death. A year since hundreds of our people were brutally dragged into captivity, dead and alive.
And we must be honest, here, now, when the passage of time should be able to offer comfort and some sense of closure, the earth shakes still. Our wounds still cannot fully heal because they are ongoing. Because hostages are still being tortured, executed, and dying in captivity. Because they and their families are still living in the loss and the terror of October 7 right at these very moments. Because tens of thousands of families still cannot return home. In many senses, we are all still living the aftermath of October 7.
It is everywhere in our country.
It is also in the antisemitism that came charging forward throughout the world in the wake of the war with Hamas.
It is in the ongoing threat to the Jewish State by Iran and its terror proxies, who are blinded by hatred and bent on the destruction of our one and only Jewish nation state.
It is in the tangible fear, uncertainty, and anxiety about the future, all of these are here with us still.
But friends, the divider we can create in time so as to remember still carries so much meaning. This time, one year later, is an invitation to come close to the pain and the grief, to look at it with open eyes and open hearts, remembering what we have lost – which reminds us also who we are: We are a people with the power to keep standing up again and again against hatred. To get back on our feet from the ashes of tragedy. To fight and to survive, to heal and to rebuild. And in truth, this year, of so much heartbreak and devastation, which has plagued Jew, Muslim, Christian, Druze in my nation, and Jews all over the world and other friends, this year has compelled us to return to the core truths of our peoplehood. It has compelled us to reconnect with one another and to recommit ourselves to the path of self-reflection, collective responsibility, and social justice that are the spiritual legacy of our people.
And we really have been there for one another this year in beautiful expressions of love and solidarity. We have not abandoned our deep longing and aspiration for peace with our neighbors. And we hold onto this intention still, even as we insist that we as Jews deserve to feel safe and to be safe – regardless of where on earth we may live.
So, my friends, we will emerge from this difficult time, and we will overcome the hatred, and we will rebuild. With a vital spirit that has defined us, we will come together to recover again and again, and we will rebuild.
Inspired by the courage of bravery and the beauty of everyone we lost, we will not stop believing that a better world is possible.
I would like to end my words with a prayer, and hope in this spirit, that we find strength and receive the blessing of peace. Adonai Oz Lamo Yiten. Adonai Yivarech Et Amo, BaShalom. (May G-d grant strength to all His people. May God bless His people with peace.)
Elected leaders and Jewish communities throughout the world are preparing to observe the anniversary of the day.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 6: People march with Israeli flags as UK Jewish groups mark the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks on October 6, 2024 in Manchester, England. On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants launched coordinated armed attacks from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. 1,195 people, including 815 civilians, were killed and 251 people were taken hostage. The actions and retaliation by Israel started the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Pro-Palestinian protesters have planned at least one major rally supporting the attack of October 7, in New York City.
Roughly 1200 Israelis were murdered in the Hamas attack; nearly 50 more have been killed by Hezbollah in the north, sparking the current phase of the war, in which Israeli soldiers are uprooting Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon.
97 Israeli hostages are still in Gaza out of an original 253; 33 of those are presumed dead. Several have been rescued; more than 100, mostly women and children, were released in a week-long truce in November that Hamas broke.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.