The government has tapped Transportation Minister Miri Regev to organize the upcoming state ceremonies.
By JNS
The Israeli government has tapped Transportation Minister Miri Regev to organize the upcoming state ceremonies marking one year since the Oct. 7 cross-border Hamas massacre, Jerusalem announced on Sunday.
This year’s ceremonies commemorating the Oct. 7 attacks will be held on the date “engraved in the public consciousness in Israel and the world as the day of the terrible massacre,” the Cabinet said, adding that events will be held according to the Hebrew calendar starting next year.
Regev said, “With seriousness and with a deep sense of mission, I accepted the appointment to lead the state ceremony to mark the anniversary of the terrible massacre on October 7. Just as I led the Independence Day ceremony in the shadow of the war, with all the required sensitivity, I also intend to lead the ceremony on October 7.
“We are in a difficult, painful and complex reality, where 115 hostages are still captive in Gaza, many still cannot return to their homes and the war is still ongoing. We will conduct the ceremony with sensitivity and responsibility and express our memory, heroism and hope,” she noted.
On Oct. 7, 2023, roughly 3,000 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza, murdering about 1,200 people, kidnapping some 250 people and terrorizing hundreds of thousands more by using rape and torture as a weapon while temporarily conquering several southern communities.
In March, the Cabinet voted to mark the massacre with an annual commemoration on the 24th day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei.
The events will be marked separately from Remembrance Day (Yom Hazikaron) for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars and Victims of Terrorism, which is held on the 4th of Iyar, a day before Independence Day.
Every National Remembrance Day for the Disaster That Befell the State of Israel on October 7, and the Swords of Iron War, two state ceremonies will be held: One at 11 a.m. in honor of those killed in action in the war against Hamas in Gaza, and another at 1 p.m. in memory of the civilians murdered during the terror group’s invasion of the northwestern Negev.
Because the 24th of Tishrei this year coincides with Shabbat (on Oct. 26), these ceremonies are scheduled to take place on Sunday, Oct. 27.