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Countries commemorate anniversary of Hamas attack on Israel


By JUSTIN SPIKE

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Vigils, commemorations and acts of remembrance were planned across the world on Monday to mark one year since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel as world leaders called for an end to antisemitism and the release of Israeli hostages.

Last year’s surprise cross-border attack, which killed about 1,200 people, caught Israel unprepared on a major Jewish holiday, shattering Israelis’ sense of security and leaving many countries, already on edge over Russia’s war in Ukraine, facing the prospect of another major conflict in the Middle East.

The nations of Europe, home to many Jewish and Muslim communities, have sought to tamp down both antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiment in the wake of the Hamas attack and Israel’s subsequent war against the combatants in Gaza, which has killed over 41,000 people and displaced around 1.9 million in the embattled coastal territory. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

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The Vatican marked the anniversary of the attacks by taking up a collection for the people of Gaza and publishing a letter from Pope Francis to Catholics in the region, expressing his solidarity.

Francis made no mention of Israel, Hamas or the hostages in the letter dated Oct. 7. He referred to the “fuse of hatred” being ignited one year ago and the spiral of violence that has ensued, insisting that what is needed is dialogue and peace.

“I am with you, the people of Gaza, long embattled and in dire straits. You are in my thoughts and prayers daily,” he wrote.

After some comments that upset Israel early on in the conflict, Francis has usually tried to strike an even tone. But he recently suggested Israel was using disproportionate and “immoral” force in Lebanon and Gaza.

He said he was particularly close to those who have been forced to flee their homes to find refuge from bombing, to the mothers weeping over their dead children and those “who are afraid to look up for fear of fire raining down from the skies.”

The German chancellery in Berlin was adorned with a yellow ribbon commemorating the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, around 100 of whom remain in captivity, with many of them feared dead.

The names of the people killed and kidnapped in the attack on Israel were read out in front of the Brandenburg Gate starting at 5:29 a.m. local time in Germany, when Hamas’ onslaught began a year ago.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said to Germany’s “dear friends in Israel” that “we feel with you … we stand beside you.”

But he also pointed to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and said “the daily experience of violence and hunger is not a basis on which good things can grow.”

Scholz said in an address to a conference in Hamburg that Germany is pressing for a cease-fire and the release of the hostages and “for a political process, even if it is further away than ever.” He said the aim must be a two-state solution that is only possible if a wider conflagration in the region is prevented, adding that Hezbollah and Iran must cease their attacks on Israel.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who has voiced strong support for Israel, commemorated the Oct. 7 anniversary by visiting the main synagogue in Rome and reaffirming Israel’s right to defend itself.

She denounced the “latent and rampant antisemitism” she said has arisen since the Hamas attack, citing in particular pro-Palestinian protests in Italy this past weekend, some of which turned violent.

While asserting Israel’s lights to live safely within its borders, Meloni insisted it respect international law and lamented the devastation unleashed by Israeli forces in Gaza. She said Palestinians in Gaza had been “victims twice over: first of Hamas’ cynicism, which uses them as human shields, and then of Israeli military operations.”

French President Emmanuel Macron took to social media Monday to mark the anniversary of the Hamas attacks. “The pain remains, as vivid as it was a year ago. The pain of the Israeli people. Ours. The pain of wounded humanity,” he said.

“We do not forget the victims, the hostages, or the families with broken hearts from absence or waiting. I send them our fraternal thoughts,” Macron wrote on the social media platform X. He was later expected to receive in Paris some of the family members of hostages held by Hamas.



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