By Michael V. Cusenza
The City this week marked the one-year anniversary of the atrocities committed in Israel by Hamas. City flags were lowered to half-staff on Monday, while City Hall, Borough Hall, and other municipal buildings were lit yellow.
On Oct. 7, 2023, over 1,200 men, women and children, including 46 Americans and citizens of over than 30 countries, were slaughtered by Hamas – the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
“The depravity of Hamas’s crimes is almost unspeakable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Queens, which has been home to a sprawling Jewish population for generations, gathered at a memorial service organized by the Queens Jewish Community Council.
Photo Courtesy of QJCC
The NYPD Shomrim Society, composed of Jewish members of the City Police Department, provided the honor guard at the QJCC memorial service.
“So many of my neighbors are hurting from the pain and loss of that day,” City Councilwoman Lynn Schulman (D-Forest Hills) said. “Praying for the return of all hostages and stability in the region.”
Israel’s response and last week’s missile barrage on the Jewish State, courtesy of Iran, were also on Mayor Eric Adams’s mind on Monday.
“With the brutal murder of more than 1,200 innocent men, women, and children by cowardly terrorists, a part of all of us died that day. Hundreds more were taken hostage in the aftermath, and many still remain in captivity today,” Adams said. “And as we see the devastation wrought on innocent people in the Middle East in the aftermath of this unprovoked attack, the thought of peace becomes even more distant. But that is exactly why we must continue to strive for peace — for the safe return of all of the hostages, for the defeat of Hamas, and for an end to this deadly conflict. To those who plan to use this day to peacefully protest, that is your right. As you do so, remember to follow the law and I ask you to please hold a place in your hearts for those who lost everything a year ago today.”
