The horrific Hamas attack a year ago today has filled the streets as protests and calls for “unity and hope” clash as the war in the Mideast intensifies.
Pro-Palestine and pro-Israel groups have planned gatherings and demonstrations across Boston that kicked off in the Common Sunday.
Several Jewish community groups will host commemorations today, including small gatherings at synagogues around the Greater Boston area, said Chaplain of the City of Boston Grand Rabbi Y. A. Korff.
Hamas-led militants massively invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The terrorist attack killed about 1,200 residents, according to Israeli officials, and the terrorists took about 250 hostages during the attack, about a third of whom are feared dead.
Since the attack, Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 40,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, an agency in the Hamas-controlled government, and displaced around 90% of the 2.3 million people. The conflict has led to escalating fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, sparking fears of a wider conflict in the region.
Israeli officials have said the figures are suspect because of Hamas’ control over government in Gaza, Reuters reports.
The Boston Coalition for Palestine organized a pro-Palestine rally starting in the Boston Common at the Parkman Bandstand at 1 p.m. Sunday to mark the anniversary, stating “One year of genocide, one year of resistance” in flyers for the event.
The rally marched through the Common with a massive crowd chanting and drumming and moved to flood into Storrow Drive before 4 p.m.
“Boston joins a global day of action marking one year of genocide and one year of resistance,” the coalition and Boston PSL posted to Instagram, showing blocks of protestors with keffiyehs, flags and signs pouring onto the busy road. “We will continue to fight for a free Palestine in our lifetime!”
Boston Police said no arrests or incidents associated with the protest were reported as of 5 p.m. Sunday.
Tensions over the conflict have heightened over the last year in the greater Boston area. In September, a pro-Palestine supporter was shot in the stomach by a pro-Israel protestor in Newton after charging him during a demonstration.
Pro-Palestine student groups at Massachusetts colleges joined others nationwide led by the National Students for Justice in Palestine calling for a “Week of Rage” action to mark the anniversary from Oct. 7 to 11. The move garnered pushback from some Jewish community members who said the idea steps on a time of mourning and the Jewish holy days ending in Yom Kippur.
The National Students for Justice in Palestine said the week is intended to to call attention to Israel’s “horrific assault on the nearly 2 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.”
Combined Jewish Philanthropies, with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, the Israeli-American Council and other groups, will host an event to mark the solemn day at the Boch Center in the Wang Theatre at 7 p.m. The “Evening of Remembrance and Hope” event will feature speakers, music and opportunities to mourn, the group said.
“The traumas of this past year have impacted each one of us differently and we don’t know what will unfold between now, October 7, and even beyond,” CJP wrote of the event. “But this evening will give us the opportunity to be with one another, and to grieve as a community.”
Harvard Hillel will also host an event in the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at 5 p.m. Monday.
The gathering will allow community members to “honor those we’ve lost and stand together in solidarity, unity, and hope,” the group said in a posting for the event, adding “let our voices unite in a powerful plea for the return of the hostages.”
Place beyond words: Herald views footage of merciless Oct. 7 Hamas killings
