We saw, through video and photos taken during the Oct. 7 attack, a barbaric terrorist organization, driven by hate and antisemitism, rape and murder without mercy.
We were moved as Israel, grief-stricken and shocked, found strength to fight Hamas − and now Hezbollah and Iran − with all its might.
But we soon realized that not everyone in America and other countries has learned the lesson of Oct. 7.
Far too many continue to harbor hate, to let discrimination fester toward Jewish people, and it's not just in Gaza and Iran − it's in America, too.
Horrific Oct. 7 attack showed depths of depravity
Aside from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, I have not seen anything like the Oct. 7 attack that Hamas perpetrated on Israel. Like much of the world, I was aghast.
I'm not Jewish, but count many Jewish Americans as friends and colleagues. As a Christian, I believe they are God's chosen people. I don’t have to be Jewish to be horrified by what transpired or to empathize with Israelis' desire for safety.
February 26, 2024: Soldiers carry the coffin during the funeral for Sgt. Oz Daniel in Kfar Saba, Israel. The Israel Defense Forces recently announced the death of Daniel, who served in the 7th Armored Brigade's 77th Battalion, and who was previously listed as one of the hostages taken to Gaza on October 7th. New information led the IDF to confirm he was killed on Oct. 7 and his body was taken by Hamas. Amir Levy, Getty Images
The aftermath of the initial attack, including first-person accounts of rape, murder and mutilation , is seared into my mind. I found myself in shock. How could this happen in our modern-day world? It looked like something from a horror film or in a dystopian universe.
After being rescued, several women held captive in tunnels in Gaza revealed that members of Hamas tortured and sexually assaulted them.
This is not just a war about land. This is not just about religious and ethnic hostilities going back millennia.
This also is about the depths of human depravity and what people will do to one another in the name of hate.
Antisemitism in America is worse than we thought
A year after the attack, it's still hard to believe a crime of this magnitude happened on our watch.
To my horror, antisemitism didn't just spread to the United States after the attack. It was already here. The Oct. 7 attack unearthed it and galvanized antisemites to be more vocal than ever before.
She became the third leader of an Ivy League university to do so.
We must not look away from the evil of terrorism
Since Oct. 7, I have watched two newer films about the Holocaust, " The Zone of Interest " and " Irena's Vow ." The first is about the life of an Auschwitz commandant and his family living next door to the infamous death camp. The second is the moving story of a Polish woman who hides several Jews while working for a Nazi officer. One is infuriating, and the other is inspiring.
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Every time I learn something new about the Holocaust − a lesson on good and evil − I wonder how Oct. 7 could have happened at all, let alone stoke the flames of antisemitism in the United States. The United States is supposed to be a haven for lovers of liberty, not a conclave for antisemites emboldened to spread bigotry.
It's vital on this anniversary of such an awful day that we make ourselves reckon with the terrorism that happened in Israel. We cannot look away. We cannot harbor hatred and antisemitism in this country. We must condemn it, and defend our Jewish friends and neighbors.
The only way to not forget is to force ourselves to remember the lesson we were supposed to learn from Oct. 7.
until we also include how antisemitism is also used by the Zionism to further its own agenda in Israel and around the world, this conversation will never go anywhere productive.
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