British Jews held ceremonies to mark two years since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, expressing anger and defiance amid rising antisemitism in the UK. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis led prayers for hostages and victims
Pic/AFP
British Jews gathered on Sunday to mark two years since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacres in southern Israel with anger, sadness, and defiance in ceremonies that were heightened by the shock of the deadly terror attack on a synagogue over the Yom Kippur holiday, The Times of Israel reported.
Participants lamented that the wave of antisemitism unleashed after the Hamas attack and subsequent war in Gaza had been left unchecked in the UK, where rabid anti-Israel and antisemitic protests have become regular events. In Manchester, where a knifeman assaulted congregants on Thursday at the Heaton Park Synagogue in an attack that left two dead and four seriously injured, thousands gathered under the banner, "We are not Jews with trembling knees."
In London, Keith Black, chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, told a crowd of some 3,000 gathered at Trafalgar Square that "antisemitism in this country is out of control," The Times of Israel reported. "Our streets have been filled with protesters screaming Jew hatred, our students have faced relentless waves of abuse on campus," Black said.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis led prayers for the release of the remaining hostages and in memory of those killed in the attack. Candles were lit in memory of the different communities that were attacked on October 7, and the names of British citizens killed in the attack were read, The Times of Israel reported. Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, 2023, and took more than 250 hostages in a savage attack. It triggered a brutal retaliation from Israel which Gaza's health ministry says has killed more than 65,000 people, most of them women and children.
At present, Israel and Hamas are preparing for indirect negotiations in Egypt, amid hopes for a possible agreement on ending the Gaza war based on Donald Trump's 20-point ceasefire plan, Al Jazeera reported.Palestinian group Hamas said on Sunday that its delegation, headed by Khalil al-Hayya, had arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh and would begin the negotiations on Monday "on the mechanisms for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of [Israeli] occupation forces and a prisoner exchange", as per Al Jazeera.
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