Jewish institutions in New York are gearing up to mark the third anniversary on Wednesday of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, as some anti-Zionist groups prepare to hold demonstrations against Israel.
About 1,200 people were killed in Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel that day three years ago, most of them civilians, with another 251 taken hostage, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Another 452 soldiers have been killed in the fighting since then, according to the Israel Defense Forces. In the ensuing war in Gaza, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has reshaped the region and reverberated around the world.
Here is a list of events around New York City to commemorate the attacks and their aftermath.
Manhattan’s Marlene Meyerson Jewish Community Center is holding “a day of remembrance, music, and community” in its lobby, from noon until 7 p.m. “Strokes of Hope,” an exhibition of drawings by Israeli artist Zeev Engelmayer, will be on display.
UJA-Federation of New York is launching “Rooted,” a public art installation at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, which will be on display until Oct. 25, made up of thousands of hostage solidarity tags and pins. At 92NY on the Upper East Side, Claire Shipman – the former acting president of Columbia University – is moderating a conversation between an Israeli father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, and a Palestinian father, Jaser AbuMoussa.
Omer Shem Tov, an Israeli former hostage, will speak at Yeshiva University’s memorial at 8 p.m.
In Brooklyn, the Park Slope Jewish Center will host an event at 7 p.m. including personal testimony from Atir Vinnikov, a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre.
At 7 p.m. in Union Square, the group Israelis for Peace is set to meet for an evening of “quiet reflection and mourning” of the people killed on Oct. 7 and in “its bloody aftermath.”
Anti-Zionist student groups planning walkouts
A number of anti-Zionist student groups are planning walkouts on campuses across the city, including City University of New York campuses, Columbia and NYU.
The walkouts will culminate in a rally held outside City Hall at 4 p.m., organized by Pal-Awda and endorsed by a number of groups, calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani, himself a strident critic of Israel, to stop “[capitulating] to Zionist pressure.”