One Year and Counting
The days leading up to October 7, 2024 celebrated the one year anniversary of the attack on Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group, Hamas. On that day a year ago, Hamas took 242 Israelis and 12 Americans hostage, as a result of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Bring Them Home Now LA hosted their third rally on Oct. 6, continuing their calls for Hamas to release the hostages. Rabbi Yossi Eliforti began the event with the Magen Am prayer. Attendees were encouraged to wear yellow to show their support for the hostages and their families. The rally was held at the corner of Burbank Boulevard and Balboa Boulevard, and featured a crowd full of American and Israeli flags, including a small school bus sporting numerous flags. The event hired the private security company Magen Am, a Jewish, non-profit organization licensed to provide armed security services.
Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democratic congressman of 27 years representing California's 32nd congressional district, presented an American flag flown over the United States Capitol to the Cohen family whose son and brother were taken hostage during the October 7th attacks. While presenting the flags, Sherman stated, “Thank you for inspiring the American people, and I would like to give you this flag that has flown over the American capital as a symbol that America stands with Israel and stands with the hostages until everyone is returned.”
Yehuda Cohen, father to the hostage Nimrod Cohen, told the story of his son’s capture. Nimrod Cohen was a soldier in a tank team where two of the members were killed and Nimrod and his commander taken hostage after being overwhelmed by combatants on Oct. 7. Yehuda Cohen called for action, stating, “What we need, what Israel needs is action, and action is more to be focused on what needs to do. I mean, ‘bring them home now’ is something very general, something that could happen, would happen, hoping will happen, praying will happen. This is not enough, and we are desperate. What we need is actually a clear call for a hostage deal. We need a hostage deal. This is the only way my son will be released. This is the only way the life of my son will be secured. Of course, this is the only way all the other hostages, living and deceased will be released, and we call him for a hostage deal that will come along with the ceasefire. Of course, that's what Hamas wants, but we want it as well. People in Israel are dying wounded.”
Yehuda Cohen talked about how he believes America and Netanyahu do not have civilians’ best interests in mind, and how on both sides of the conflict, leaders are relying on these wars to keep them in power. He believes that a ceasefire will be good for the Israeli nation, but not the government, which is why they have not accepted, but it is the only way to bring his son home and the Israeli government is responsible for that role. A car drove by shouting “Free Palestine!” during his speech, drawing “Fuck you”s from the crowd. Yehuda Cohen ended his call for action by stating, “The only way that my son's life can be secured again and the rest of the hostages is a hostage deal that will come along with a ceasefire, and we need pressure on my prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to leave it all and go for a hostage deal.”
After the rally, Debbie Paperman, an organizer of Bring Them Home Now LA, spoke on what the one-year anniversary meant to her. She became teary as she began to speak. “I can't imagine not having my last one for a year.” She told the story of a friend who found his cousins went missing on Oct. 7, only to find out that they were murdered at the Nova Music Festival. She wants the city to recognize the hostages, eight of which are American and stand with them.
Further south at the Museum of Tolerance, down South Roxbury Drive and West Pico Boulevard, Eyal Dahan held his own memorial event.
Love and support for Israel and the Jewish people could be heard from the many cars passing by, honking their horns at Israel's flags displayed nearby.
The event started with a memorial ceremony to mourn and honor the 1,200 people killed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, in the villages and streets of Israel and at the Nova Music Festival.
Members of the community and parents of IDF soldiers joined on stage for an “inauguration of the Torah.” In addition to being a blessing and prayer for the Jewish people and act of faith, this ceremony is also a “mitzvah,” which means good deed in Judaism.
The inauguration of the Torah was a prayer for the safety of the Jewish people and the IDF, as well as a mitzvah to commemorate the Jewish New Year.
Dahan also took time to honor the IDF soldiers who lost their lives defending against the terrorist attack on Oct. 7, and the immediate days after, in addition to honoring those still fighting. Parents of IDF soldiers went up to sign the Jewish bible.
The next day, on Oct. 7, a memorial service was held on the Santa Monica College (SMC) main campus to commemorate the lives lost in the attack. On the main quad, chairs lined the field, each affixed with a photo of a now-deceased hostage and an Israeli flag. Students crossing the area often paused by the memorial. Some took photos and shed tears.
In an interview with Vicky Rothman, the event leader and a career counselor, she explained that she’s in her 35th year at the college. With regards to the formation of the event, she said she wanted “a way of helping other faculty staff feel support and that we could have a place to come together to talk.” She added, “We realized it would be better if we as a staff and a faculty put something together, rather than having our students do it. We wanted them to feel like they were being taken care of and that there was a safe environment. So, we chose to put pictures up of all the current hostages, although you’ll see on some of them - they have stamped ‘murdered.’”
When asked why this event is so important to SMC faculty, Rothman said, “I think, honestly, this should be important to everyone. I kind of see this as, you know, we try to commemorate things. I have Armenian women that work for me as counselors and every year when they commemorate their Armenian genocide, I see it as something thats important. It’s sort of one of those things (we) like to remember so we don’t do this again, that the world is in a lot of pain.”
When it comes to the response to the memorial, Rothman said, “For the most part we’ve had, you know, people come and say really nice things, to ask questions and we have some people who have cried. We’ve had some people y’know, say like, why are you doing this?” She adds, “I wanted to point those two children out. They’re the youngest, and you can see his parents, so the four of them were taken from their home. The oldest I think was an 86-year-old woman who got returned in the first round. But they’re still in Gaza that we know of.”
While talking to Rabbi Eli Levitansky, representing the Jewish Student Center with a table at the memorial, he explained, “I’m set up here almost everyday, but today’s specifically the one year anniversary of the October seventh attack, and we’re here to encourage students to be more active in promoting and doing good deeds.”
Levitansky expanded a little on the purpose of the Jewish Student Center. Levitansky said, “The Jewish student center is the place for any Jewish students to come be actively involved in Jewish activities without being judged by their level, or lack thereof, of observance. So it’s an open club for any Jewish student; obviously anyone can join, but it is a Jewish club and no one is viewed on their political views or on their religious views or anything like that.”
When speaking with student Brandon Gomez, he gave his thoughts on the memorial. “I think it’s more of a peaceful memorial ‘cause it’s just open for people to see, for people to walk by, for them to acknowledge it, and y’know, they don’t have to know much about the politics.”
An anonymous student gave their thoughts on processing memorials like these. They said, “I’d like to consider it as something that reminds people that there are things happening in this world. There’s no other way to explain it. It’s just like – oh, a reminder of the good and bad.” They added, “The fact that it’s been a year, the fact that there are some people on these chairs that I'll never see again, who I’ve met in the past - who, like, I’ve gotten - some of these people I’m really close to. I knew (him). He was one of my friends that I knew through other people, and when I found out he died, it hit really hard, because I was really fucking hoping he would come home.”