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Israel Set to Formally Declare Annual Day of Remembrance for Oct. 7 Massacre
An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
The Israeli government is set to vote on Sunday to formally declare an annual day of remembrance for the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and those who subsequently fell in battle fighting the Palestinian terror group in Gaza.
The date chosen for the annual remembrance is the 24th of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew lunisolar calendar and two days after the 22nd of Tishrei, the day that marks the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah, when the attack occurred.
According to the draft that will be voted on at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, the day “will be celebrated as much as possible in the state institutions,” including ceremonies at military bases and other sites of the war.
If the measure is approved, the ceremonies will be held this upcoming Tishrei on the 25th day of the month, as the day of remembrance is set to fall on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, for which holidays in Israel are postponed a day until Sunday.
In Israel, public and religious holidays are held in accordance with the Hebrew calendar. For this year, however, there will also be ceremonies for the Oct. 7 massacre held on the more widely used Gregorian calendar date.
“Oct. 7 is engraved in the public consciousness in Israel as the day of the terrible massacre,” the draft says. “Precisely to mark the first year of the largest terrorist attack in our history, in response to the public’s concerns in Israel, there is a need to commemorate the event in a one-time manner on its foreign date, which was enshrined in the consciousness of the people of Israel and in its consciousness of the world. The expression “seventh of October” is ambiguous and related to the Jewish term ‘seven,’ which indicates the mourning at the end of the first year of the outbreak of the attack.”
If approved, the annual day of remembrance will join similar commemorations for the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, among others, that have an officially allocated budget through the Defense Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office to conduct the events.
On Oct. 7, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel from Gaza, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 others as hostages. Mounting evidence has shown that, during the onslaught, the terrorists perpetrated systematic sexual violence, including mass rape and torture, against the Israeli people.
The proposal clarifies that the ensuing war’s official name — which officials have debated changing from Iron Swords to a number of other options — will be formally declared at a future date.
The post Israel Set to Formally Declare Annual Day of Remembrance for Oct. 7 Massacre first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.