💧News of the Crisis💧October 7, 2024
A whole year has passed, yet we are far from whole
Today at at 9 AM PT / 12 PM EST / 7 PM Israel time, the Bereaved Families of October 7 invite you to join online in commemoration of the atrocities committed exactly one year ago in the villages and towns of the West Negev.
The ceremony will be streamed live from HaYarkon Park, Tel Aviv, and watched by communities in over 150 locations in Israel and worldwide.
Unfortunately, Hamas launched about 14 missile projectiles to central Israel today (Monday), causing the Home Front Command to prohibit any mass gatherings. Instead, the organizers of the ceremony urged the public to join community screenings of the event.
This October 7, the numbers speak for themselves:
About 143,000 evacuees have not returned home yet
About 300,000 Israelis mobilized to reserve duty
Israel suffered 4,973 terrorist attacks
1,677 killed
18,241 wounded
101 hostages still held in Hamas captivity
@londonnothamas is a new Twitter account featuring posters of Hamas’ Rape Tunnels of Gaza. The maps appeared this morning all over various London Underground stations and trains, although it is quite certain they will be removed during the day.
The account posted a press release in which it states, “Hostage supporters take back London Underground… reminding Londoners for what appalling purposes Hamas have created their subterranean network - rape, murder, torture, further terrorist activities - as supporters call for the UK Government to do everything to ensure the release of the 100 hostages still unaccounted for after 365 days.”
The polarization of the tribes of Israel’s Jewish citizens has already caused a rift that will be hard to repair. This week’s case in point - transportation.
During the long Rosh Hashanah weekend, all public transportation has ceased between noon Wednesday and Saturday evening, despite the mobilization of tens of thousands of reservists to the north following the offensive against Hezbollah. The many reservists were dependent on spouses and parents to reach the north of Israel - as well as a slew of civil initiatives, headed by “Brothers in Arms”.
Outside of Israel, tens of thousands of reservists were stuck abroad, unable to reach their assembly area as dozens of airlines canceled flights to the region because of the spiraling tension. All this caused ire against Minister of Transportation Miri Regev, who was enjoying herself in Budapest in an unnecessary Likud-related trip while Iran rained 200 ballistic missiles on our heads. Regev has the power to utilize the government’s “golden share” in national carrier El Al to force the airline to operate flights on Sabbaths and holidays. However, she did not deem it essential enough. She also lied to Kan News presenters, claiming she participated in the cabinet meeting on the day when Israeli troops started to enter Lebanon, despite being in Hungary at the time.
To add insult to injury, there was no problem shuttling tens of thousands of able-bodied, fancy-free, Hassidim from Israel to the annual Uman celebrations. Ukraine may be at war, Moldova may refuse entry (because the Israeli government breached its promise to pay a debt of over half a million ILS for reinforcing the border crossing security for last year’s festivities), and yet over 10 daily flights from Tel Aviv alighted in the Romanian town of Bacău, with some 30,000 men disembarking on their way to the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in the Ukraine. Their arrival was facilitated by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, with security bankrolled by the Israeli government (we’ll see next year if it makes good on its promise to pay the Romanians).
In a first for Saudi channel Al Arabiyah, president Isaac Herzog gave a wide-ranging interview to its reporter Riz Khan (who, in the early 90s, gained prominence as the first mainstream BBC and CNN newscaster of South Asian origin). In the interview, Herzog called the Lebanese and Iranian people to “rise up” and confront the Iranian axis: “If we confront it and be tough together, we surely can hope for a better future and create a NATO-like structure in the region that blocks radicalism,”
Herzog calls the moment “a golden opportunity for the powers that want to have a better future for the Middle East to move forward with new ideas and new plans in order to resolve this conflict.”
Throughout Israel, people observed a moment of silence at 06:29 AM, the time the atrocities began last year. Here, Max Kresch captured the moment outside of Netanyahu’s residence in Gaza Street, Jerusalem.