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Top US Holocaust officials: Oct. 7 massacre creates ‘new momentum’ for restitution
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Hamas’ massacres on Oct. 7 delivered “new momentum” to the effort to deliver restitution to the descendants of Holocaust survivors and victims whose property was stolen, Stuart Eizenstat, the State Department’s special adviser on Holocaust issues, said Thursday at a meeting with reporters for Jewish publications.
“There’s a new momentum behind Holocaust remembrance, Holocaust restitution, and Holocaust lessons,” he said. “And those who say, you know, it’s just a thing of the past, we’re reminded by what’s happened in the last few weeks that that’s not the case.”
Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7 killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians, wounded thousands and abducted more than 200, in the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Thursday’s press conference featured Eizentstat; Ellen Germain, the department’s special envoy for Holocaust issues; and Mark Weitzman, COO of the World Jewish Restitution Organization. They spoke the day after a meeting convened by the State Department and the WJRO including representatives of 14 countries seeking to advance restitution to descendants of Holocaust survivors and victims.
The Nazis and their allies and proxies, among others, looted and confiscated hundreds of thousands of pieces of property belonging to Jews during and after World War II. The U.S.-led restitution effort, launched by Eizenstat in the late 1990s, has recovered thousands of pieces, including many valuable works of art. A number of countries including, notably, Poland, have limited the ability to seek restitution and say that Holocaust restitution should not be treated as unique. Rather, they say, it should be addressed in the context of privations others suffered in the war and, afterward, during decades of communist rule.
Countries represented at the meeting Wednesday included Israel, the United States, Britain, Croatia, Germany, Moldova, Romania, France, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Canada and Greece. As part of the recent U.S.-led initiative to advance restitution, five of those countries — the Netherlands, Britain, France, Germany and Austria — have established commissions to examine restitution issues, and Luxembourg has effectively completed its restitution process.
Germain said that those efforts, to pursue justice decades after the thefts and atrocities occurred, makes it clear that the crimes of Oct. 7 will also be addressed — however long it takes.
“Maintaining the values of our liberal democracies, all of that has been thrown into such stark relief with the events of the last few weeks, and that all connects right up with bringing a measure of justice for Holocaust survivors and their families, even after 80 years,” she said. “There is no statute of limitations on trying to bring perpetrators of such a great injustice to account for what they’ve done.”
Eizenstat said that virtually every diplomat and official present at the restitution meeting on Wednesday framed their mission in the context of Oct. 7. “It was a major focus of attention, the number of countries as we went around the table, who spoke about it, who said that this demonstrates that the hatred against Jews and against Israel is not something of the past, was itself very enlightening,” he said.
Eizenstat said Oct. 7 also brought the horrors of the Holocaust home for younger Israelis and Jews. “The number of young people who were involved in these attacks, who said, ‘Now we understand what our parents and grandparents went through’,” he said.”It thrust the Jewish past into the present.”
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The post Top US Holocaust officials: Oct. 7 massacre creates ‘new momentum’ for restitution appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.