The world is commemorating the October 7 Hamas massacre on Monday) in thousands of events including in rallies and marches, in ceremonies in Jewish communities and synagogues, in special events and discussion groups - but there are also those who prefer, even now a year later, to focus on hatred and blame Israel for all its troubles and the most terrible killing spree in its history.
On Sunday evening in the Kreuzberg neighborhood in Berlin, organizers of a pro-Palestinian demonstration and the leading truck with the announcer and the speakers waited and waited, but the general rehearsal for the big demonstration on October 7 did not quite live up to expectations. "We have a force of 500 or 600 policemen here," a policeman who was standing in Kottbusser-Tor, the square from where the procession started toward the immigrant neighborhood of Neukalen, and where only a little over a thousand protesters had gathered, told me. "We thought we would have a police officer for every eight to 10 protesters. It's a bit surprising. But it's less work for us."
Pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin on October 6
(Video: Reuters)
The official reason for the demonstration was to express solidarity with the residents of Gaza and Lebanon, and alongside it there were quite a few expressions of joy on the anniversary of the October 7 massacre in the Gaza border communities. There were two separate camps at the demonstration: Germans and Anglo-Saxons from the German left, and Muslim immigrants; Flags of Palestine, Lebanon and Ireland waved wildly; Drummers loudly beat drums; The famous keffiyeh officially announced the year in which it climbed to the top of the fashion icons in the Western world in black and white, blue and white, yellow and black, red and khaki.
There were all the usual signs with the same old sayings, such as: "A thief cannot own what he stole" and "Occupying Palestine since 1948." And there were also Israeli demonstrators with signs against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hate is in the air. The announcer chanted against the "brutal police" and reminded the protesters not to give them any reason to disperse the demonstration.
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Pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin to mark October 7 anniversary
(Photo: Christian Mang/Reuters)
And instead of chanting "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," they shouted: "We will not stop until we liberate Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Safed and Tel Aviv," and the announcer added: "From the sea to the sea, this is the only real way to say it and no German white policeman or God will not stop me from saying that." He also called "Netanyahu and Scholz you will see, Palestine will be free," and congratulated their "brothers" in the resistance movement in "Gaza, Nablus, Tulkarm and Daheih". The last place, Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut, is the name that evoked the loudest applause. And of course: "Germany finances, Israel bombs" and "Five, six, seven, eight, end of Zionism."
I asked Maya, a German student in a fashionable hoodie, if it wasn't strange for her to stand in the middle of Berlin and not sympathize with even one word or act against the biggest murder of Jews since the Holocaust. She pointed to the banner that was hanging on the side of the announcement truck: "It started long before October 7," it says, a slogan that has become commonplace among Israel haters. "I pay taxes to the German government, and I cannot and do not want to be complicit in the genocide and child murder that Israel commits with this money," she said, adding: "to stand aside and look at the other side, is to wash our hands of a crime that I am complicit in. I think this is the lesson we learned from the Third Reich. It seems that, according to their behavior, the Jews in Israel did not learn the right lesson."
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Pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin to mark OCtober 7 anniversary
(Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)
A young British man passed by us with a sign that compared the pro-Palestinian protest to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. The procession started fashionably late, but it didn't really get going. The ratio was one policeman for every three protesters.
"The hate demonstration is a direct continuation of the terror celebrations in Neukalen on October 7 - the distribution of sweets for the murder of Jews," Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, said. "When talking about 3,200 antisemitic crimes in Germany, this is what it looks like. This is the face of Islamist antisemitism that thrives under the cover of freedom of expression."
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Jews and thier supporters in Berlin hold silent march from Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to mark October 7
(Photo: Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images)
At a distance of about four kilometers away, a quieter and calmer procession took place, in which hundreds of Jews and Germans who came to sympathize with the victims of the massacre and the hostages who remain in captivity. Several people held in their hands the headline of the important Berlin newspaper Tagsspiegel, which, like other newspapers, printed the faces of the hostages on its cover. They walked in silence from the Brandenburg Gate to the Bebelplatz public square, silent, as if they couldn't believe that a year had already passed since their world had been shaken on a Saturday in early autumn last year.
Events marking October 7 to be held in New York
In the meantime, more than 400 commemorative events will be held Monday in the U.S. to commemorate the massacre, including exhibitions, shows and interactive activities. Many of the organizers are deliberately obfuscating the location and date of the events for fear of anti-Israel protests, but the Jewish Federations of North America has launched a dedicated website detailing the events. In New York, there will be a major central ceremony led by Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, where singer Eden Golan will perform "October Rain," the song rejected by Eurovision as too political. The "Last Embrace" exhibition by the artist Yifat Pe’er, dedicated to the victims of October 7, will also be launched at UN headquarters.
In the evening, a rally will be held in Central Park, at the initiative of the JNFA, with performances by Eden Golan, David Broza, and student choirs, as well as a candle lighting ceremony in memory of the victims with the participation of families of hostages. In addition, the Chabad community will lead a huge march in Manhattan in memory of the victims, Emanu El synagogue will become a night club in solidarity with the survivors of the Nova music festival, and synagogues and Jewish community centers will hold their own events.
Several states in the US lowered their flags to half-mast to mark the massacre, and central buildings in New York state were lit up yellow at the order of Governor Kathy Hochul. At the same time as these events, huge pro-Palestinian demonstrations are expected, especially on campuses. At Columbia University there will be a large protest, and at the University of Maryland, following an unusual court ruling, the university was forced to allow a demonstration.
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