Tracy-Ann Oberman MBE

Today we remember the victims of the October 7 massacre – the killing of innocent Israeli people, the torture, mutilation, rape and kidnapping, parading of the dead, the wanton cruelty and the depraved celebrations of murder, the gleeful delight in brutality, the degeneracy of its perpetrators and supporters. It is a day that stands out for its unparalleled sadism and nihilism. The scale of the killing of people of all sorts, all races, Jewish and Arab and others, is unequalled in a single day in modern times. It was the greatest murder of Jewish people since the Holocaust. Its cruelty and barbarism seem to belong to cruel times long ago – this was a lurch back to the raids and slaughters of the Mongols or the Huns - but it is unique too in its 21stcentury hi-tech modernity: it was filmed live by its perpetrators and other cameras and so unlike any other atrocity in all of human history, its details are beyond question. It is the most documented butchery and sadism ever perpetrated – and therefore the reactions to it are simply the clearest and most unequalled test of humanity available to us, reactions that will be remembered in the future. It was also a crime against peace: its effects were utterly destructive for Israelis but also for Palestinians and the innocent people across the whole region who perished in the wars it unleashed. More than that, it was an atrocity against humanity itself - and the humanist values that mark all decent people, the values of liberal, free, kind societies and communities everywhere. Its effects were utterly destructive for Israelis but also for the Palestinians and the rest of the region. Today we remember those who died, those who were wounded, those who were kidnapped, tortured, raped and killed in the tunnels of Gaza, those who lost friends and compatriots. It was a crime of annihilation to launch the liquidation of an entire people and nation, to kill and torture Israelis and Jews. Am Yisrael Chai.