October 7, 2023 is a day that will forever be etched in the collective memory of the Jewish people. Six months later, the date has lost none of its sadness and trauma.
The death toll from the attack reached 1,200, while 253 Israelis were taken hostage.
Since then, the list of victims has grown, but mainly on the Palestinian side, whether innocent civilians or Hamas fighters.
Yet the world must never forget that this catastrophe began with the worst pogrom inflicted on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
October 7, 2023 is a day that will forever be etched in the collective memory of the Jewish people. Pictured: An Israeli flag hanging from a building near a poster of a woman kidnapped in the October 7 attack
Not an isolated act of terror, but the final, most barbaric episode in a long campaign against the survival of the State of Israel.
Faced with this existential threat, the Jewish homeland has had no alternative but to defend itself.
Survival requires the destruction of Hamas so that it will never again indulge in the almost drug-crazed carnage that took place six months ago.
But “war is hell,” as Civil War general William Sherman once noted. Tragic mistakes are inevitable, such as when Israeli missiles hit an aid convoy, killing seven workers.
The Israeli government has admitted the disastrous mistake and launched a full investigation and has already fired two officers.
The outrage over this terrible event has led to demands that Israel end the fighting in Gaza.
Faced with this existential threat, the Jewish homeland has had no alternative but to defend itself. Pictured: A member of the public looks at photos of hostages kidnapped in Israel on October 7
Meanwhile, the grotesque accusation of ‘genocide’ is being spewed out, while calls for Britain to suspend arms exports to Israel grow louder.
There is a thick layer of hypocrisy surrounding this conviction. Western militaries have also made fatal errors of judgment. In 2008, US forces bombed a wedding in Afghanistan, killing 37; Sixteen people were killed in the attack on a Serbian media center in 1999.
Such incidents have never caused the same outrage as last week’s tragedy. The only explanation is the unique anti-Semitic aversion to Israel, which stems from a centuries-old hatred reborn in Britain under an ugly alliance of militant Islamism and the radical left.
It is a bitter irony that October 7 has resulted in a huge spike in anti-Jewish racism. It has not only made British Jews fear for their safety, but also put their future here in doubt. But despite this setback, I have never seen the community so united.