Israel, World Mark Six Months Since October 7 Hamas Massacre

April 8, 2024

by: Joshua Spurlock ~ Middle East Update

Monday, 8 April 2024 | Six months ago, the world for Israelis, Jews and many more changed forever. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, murdered almost 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped more than 250 others. This weekend, the memorial of that brutal day was marked—to the minute. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, “Tomorrow at 6:29 a.m., we mark six months since the cruel terror attack and the horrific massacre. Half a year since this crime against our sisters and brothers, against our state, this crime against humanity. Six months of a bloody and difficult war.”

Herzog listed off a litany of horrors and challenges that began on October 7: the ongoing hostage crisis, which plagues loved ones who long for the hostages’ return; the many Israeli civilians who still cannot return to their homes in the north and south of Israel due to the conflict; and the ongoing fight being waged by the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] “in every arena, on every front, with all their might—to bring back the hostages and to fight terrorism.”

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu evoked Holocaust language when describing the “murderous attack.” He further highlighted the array of Iranian-backed enemies that have attacked Israel in the last half-year: Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi group in Yemen, militias in Iraq and Syria and more.

Netanyahu also recapped the achievements of Israel’s defensive war launched in response to the Hamas assault. These include eliminating 19 of Hamas’s 24 battalions and killing, wounding or capturing a “large number of Hamas terrorists,” including senior commanders. Israel has also “destroyed factories for producing rockets, command centers, stores of weapons and ammunition, and underground installations.”

Nonetheless, the Israeli leader noted that “the price that we have had to pay has been painful and high,” as more than 250 Israeli soldiers have died since the Gaza campaign began.

Others outside of Israel also marked the six-month mark. In a post to X (formerly Twitter), the German Foreign Ministry wrote on Sunday: “Six months ago today was a dark day. Hamas terrorists attacked Israel. They abused, raped and murdered innocent children, women & men with unimaginably brutal violence—out of hatred against Jews & out of hatred against all people living in #Israel.”

The series of posts highlighted the hostages that remain in Hamas captivity and ended by stating: “Hamas has brought war and endless suffering upon Israelis and Palestinians with its terror. It must end this suffering, release the hostages immediately and lay down its weapons.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz thanked German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock for relaying the comments in German on her X page. In a post to X, Katz expressed appreciation for Baerbock’s “unconditional support of Israel’s just cause,” adding, “This is how friends act.”

Not all of Israel’s friends were so unconditional in their support. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the “terrorist outrage” of October 7 “the most appalling attack in Israel’s history, the worst loss of Jewish life since the Second World War.”

However, while Sunak said they “continue to stand by Israel’s right to defeat the threat from Hamas,” he also pivoted to say “the whole of the UK is shocked by the bloodshed” in the Gaza war, before saying the “terrible conflict must end.” He called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire “leading to a long-term sustainable cease-fire.”

Meanwhile, the highest levels of the administration of US President Joe Biden were conspicuously silent on the half-anniversary of the Hamas terror massacre. No statements were published or posted to the office websites or the X feeds for President Biden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken or their offices. The limited public comments come as President Biden faces political pressure in the US from supporters who are ardently opposed to Israel’s war against Hamas.

The horrors of October 7 remain staggering as Israel fights its longest war in decades. Elad Strohmayer, director of the Congressional Affairs Department in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), wrote in a post to X: “It’s 6:29 a.m. in Israel. Today we commemorate 6 months to the deadliest terror attack on Israel in history. 6 months to the deadliest slaughter of Jewish people since the Holocaust. 6 months since Hamas declared war on Israel.

“6 months later I’m still with pain, I’m still with anger. 6 months later I’m still waiting to the release of all hostages and I’m enraged the world is forgetting that Hamas started it all. There’s no moral equivalence. 6 months to the October 7 attack. I remember. We should all remember.”

In the midst of the pain, anger and somber remembrance, Herzog ended his comments with the hopeful Hebrew phrase that the “people of Israel live!”

“Half a year has passed, and it is difficult to know what challenges still lie ahead of us. But despite the long and difficult journey, I look at you, citizens of Israel, and I know—we will rise again, we will heal and build, we will plant, we will reap with joy what we sowed in tears, and we will prove to the whole world: Am Yisrael Chai!”

Posted on April 8, 2024

Source: (Excerpt of an article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on April 7, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today.)

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