An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
The Israeli government is set to vote on Sunday to formally declare an annual day of remembrance for the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and those who subsequently fell in battle fighting the Palestinian terror group in Gaza.
The date chosen for the annual remembrance is the 24th of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew lunisolar calendar and two days after the 22nd of Tishrei, the day that marks the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah, when the attack occurred.
According to the draft that will be voted on at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, the day “will be celebrated as much as possible in the state institutions,” including ceremonies at military bases and other sites of the war.
If the measure is approved, the ceremonies will be held this upcoming Tishrei on the 25th day of the month, as the day of remembrance is set to fall on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, for which holidays in Israel are postponed a day until Sunday.
In Israel, public and religious holidays are held in accordance with the Hebrew calendar. For this year, however, there will also be ceremonies for the Oct. 7 massacre held on the more widely used Gregorian calendar date.
“Oct. 7 is engraved in the public consciousness in Israel as the day of the terrible massacre,” the draft says. “Precisely to mark the first year of the largest terrorist attack in our history, in response to the public’s concerns in Israel, there is a need to commemorate the event in a one-time manner on its foreign date, which was enshrined in the consciousness of the people of Israel and in its consciousness of the world. The expression “seventh of October” is ambiguous and related to the Jewish term ‘seven,’ which indicates the mourning at the end of the first year of the outbreak of the attack.”
If approved, the annual day of remembrance will join similar commemorations for the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, among others, that have an officially allocated budget through the Defense Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office to conduct the events.
On Oct. 7, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel from Gaza, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 others as hostages. Mounting evidence has shown that, during the onslaught, the terrorists perpetrated systematic sexual violence, including mass rape and torture, against the Israeli people.
The proposal clarifies that the ensuing war’s official name — which officials have debated changing from Iron Swords to a number of other options — will be formally declared at a future date.
