OPINION: A day we will never come to terms with

On Monday, we marked 365 days since that horrific day. A day we are still trying to comprehend. A day we will never come to terms with. The most deathly single day for Jews in history since the Holocaust. A day that saw the shocking invasion, by several thousand terrorists, of a country enjoying the early hours of a Saturday morning that was also a holiday.

More than 1,200 people were barbarically murdered in the most despicable ways; many raped and tortured beforehand. Babies, children, adults and the elderly. Massacred at a music festival, in their homes and on their local streets. 251 more were brutally kidnapped to Gaza. Unprovoked. Unprepared.

I have spent a year encouraging people to try to think about that day. And to talk about it. It’s near impossible, but we really must try. To ignore the events of October 7th is to accept and to allow this to happen again, which is exactly what the terrorists have claimed they will do, in accordance with their charter to destroy Israel and all Jews. It must never ever happen again. To any innocent people.

And 7th October was just the start. The start of a hideous war between Israel, the only Jewish nation in the world, and Hamas, a globally proscribed terrorist organisation. The clearest parallel is the USA going to war with Al Qaeda after 9/11. And of course we are also at war with the media.

A dark year on and we are still reeling from shock, horror and despair. The tears keep falling.

We are in mourning for our murdered brothers and sisters. And they truly are our family.  We have thought – and continue to think – about the hostages every, single day. I have reminded people outside the community, as if it should matter, that the hostages aren’t ‘just’ Jews or ‘just’ Israelis.

They are from five different religions and tens of different nationalities. Including a young British woman, Emily Damari, aged 28. Perhaps that fact will resonate more with more people – knowing that a British citizen is being tortured underground, held by terrorists in unacceptable conditions.

There has been almost no time to mourn. Just one day after October 7th, when victims’ bodies were still being identified and counted (and so brutal were the attacks that this process took many, many weeks), we witnessed global celebrations, even on our London streets.

Cheering, gleeful chanting and pure joy expressed at the invasion of Israel and the massacres. Imagine that. Again, the apt comparison is the celebrations around the world on 9/11, amongst people who want the destruction of the West and all democracy, as well as the erasure of Israel and the murder of all Jews. Modern day Nazis.

And the attacks have continued. Over 9,000 rockets have been fired into Israel since October 7th. Under attack from seven fronts. The only reason Israel still exists and its population still lives is because she has (and had no choice but to) invested in the most sophisticated of defense systems. Sadly not all the rockets are intercepted and there have been tragic outcomes on some occasions. Coupled with on-the-ground terrorist shootings and stabbings, Israel really is defending to the hilt.

Alongside the constant barrage of rockets in Israel, in London we have continued to be subjected to weekly marches on our streets with hundreds of thousands screaming for the destruction of Israel too. Antisemitic chants, placards and acts have punctuated our past year, replicated in most major cities around the globe.

In the past twelve months, I have cleaned antisemitic stickers off lamposts in my local high street, participated in extra security duties at my synagogue and noted that many longstanding friends and contacts have stayed silent when they could have supported me (and my fellow Jews) with just a comforting word or two.

It’s all too painful to bear. But not as painful as it is for the families who were directly crushed by the events of 365 days ago.

So the first anniversary of October 7th was a very difficult day. We, the Jewish people, and anyone with a conscience and who values freedom and democracy, have been deeply affected and are deeply scarred by that day and all that has happened since, both in the Middle East and on our streets.

As I have said before, being a British Jew in the current climate is difficult. It’s nerve wracking, anxiety-provoking and desperately sad. But we won’t be silenced or pushed into a corner. Pride fills the heart of Jews and Israelis around the world and that strength of spirit keeps us going.

I will wear my yellow ribbon until the last hostage is freed, whether for burial or to be reunited with their family. I will continue to pray harder than ever. And I will carry on talking openly about Judaism and Israel and I will always defend the right of the Jewish people to our own nation. We cannot live safely outside Israel without the existence of Israel.

Let’s all pray for the return of the remaining 101 hostages and for peace in all of the Middle East so all innocent people of every creed, colour, race and religion can live the life they deserve.

עם ישראל חי

Am Yisrael Chai.