Ziv Koren: documenting 7 October for history and future generations

World-renowned Israeli photojournalist Ziv Koren brought his visual record of 7 October and its aftermath to London last week, sharing the photographs, stories and personal experiences behind his pictures. 

The photographer’s visit and the events alongside it were initiated by the World Zionist Organization, in partnership with the Embassy of Israel in the UK and Tzemach Productions.

Guests at the evening event on Tuesday 13 October arrived to view an exhibition of Koren’s ‘then and now’ photography, before hearing him speak about the images, which are intended to provide evidence, preserve individual stories and ensure that moments which may one day be studied as history have an authentic visual record.

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Ziv Koren said: “On the morning of 7 October, life turned into one long, single day. Since that dramatic Saturday, I have been in a race to document the war and to tell a story bigger than all of us. Because after such inconceivable events, I think that without authentic documentation, we could one day struggle to believe that this happened.

“From that terrible morning until now, I’ve been taking pictures day after day, some might say obsessively, out of a deep sense of mission – a combination of journalistic drive, historical perspective and love for the country. I document what is happening with the understanding that this is different from anything I have photographed before and that it is imperative to tell this extreme story as accurately and reliably as possible.”

He added: “We live in an era in which the use of editing software and artificial intelligence capabilities allows for easy manipulation and engineering of consciousness, causing people to lose the ability to distinguish between reality and illusion.

In such a world, he stressed, “the importance of objective and reliable journalistic documentation committed to ethics, history, and truth is paramount.”

Earlier in the day, a separate gathering presented Koren’s work to a largely non-Jewish audience of Members of Parliament, members of the House of Lords, media representatives and leaders of organisations across the UK.

Matan Bar Noy, representative of the executive of the World Zionist Organization in the UK and Europe, said: “Rabbi Lord Sacks said of antisemitism, ‘What we grew up with — Never again — is beginning to sound like Ever again.’ Every Shabbat, there is a substantial presence of security guards and police outside my synagogue, while outside my children’s school the security arrangements resemble those of a military facility. The escalation to serious violence can happen in an instant and preventing it must begin with a firm commitment to those words: ‘Never again.’”

He added: “We must refuse to enable incitement and leave no room for antisemitism. But I am an optimist and a son of a nation that believes in tikva — hope. I believe we can build a better future, but to make that happen we must work together and speak with one clear, strong voice.”

Koren’s photography has been exhibited around the world and his extensive documentation of 7 October and the war that followed has also been brought together in his photographic book, The October 7 War.