On the third anniversary of October 7, the Coalition for Jewish Values reaffirms unwavering truths: the Jewish people will not be intimidated or silenced, the Holy Land remains the Jewish homeland, and terrorism must never be rewarded.
Three years ago, Hamas terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and dragged 251 hostages into Gaza. They raped, burned and filmed themselves doing it. It was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, and the most thoroughly documented massacre in history, recorded by its own perpetrators.
Yet the world is already being taught to remember it as something else. Murderers become “militants,” then “the resistance.” Gaza, which Israel left completely in 2005, is called “occupied” and “blockaded.” And the effort to rescue hostages who were being tortured, starved and abused is slandered as “genocide.” Even Gaza photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, who spread the genocide lie for years on American speaking tours, now admits that Hamas could have ended the war within days by accepting terms it agreed to two years later.
Enjoy what you're reading? Subscribe for more!
“The Torah commands, ‘Distance yourself from a false matter,’ and our Sages taught that ‘falsehood has no legs,’” said CJV President Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld. “Those who called it ‘genocide’ to work to free tortured and abused hostages and end the genocidal danger posed by Hamas are accomplices in the terrorists’ horrific crimes. No decent person learns moral judgment from murderers, rapists, and torturers.”
Israel has the right and responsibility to defeat those who threaten its citizens and to ensure that October 7 can never happen again. Leaders who condemn antisemitism must back their words by protecting Jewish communities, confronting intimidation and holding perpetrators accountable — and by backing the appropriate and moral efforts by Israeli leaders to bring Hamas and its vile barbarism to an end.
The Jewish community will continue to build, teach our children, and practice our faith openly and without fear. We pray for the safety of all who defend us at home and abroad, and for lasting peace. Our answer to October 7 is a stronger Jewish future, rooted in Torah, sustained by faith, and defended with resolve.
Photo: Damaged building in Kibbutz Be’eri after October 7 by Kobi Gideon, Israel Government Press Office, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons