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Oct. 7 Survivors to Visit Churches Across America for Holocaust Remembrance Day
The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Oct. 12, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Survivors of the Hamas terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel will be visiting churches across the US this weekend to tell their stories as a way to mark Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, known as Yom HaShoah.
On Sunday, the survivors will travel to churches from New York to California. Eagles’ Wings, a pro-Israel organization, is partnering with the Moral Hearts Alliance and various Jewish communities to make the initiative happen.
“We view this ‘Solidarity Sunday’ as a sacred responsibility,” Bishop Robert Stearns of Eagles’ Wings said in a statement. “Isaiah 63:9 says, ‘In all their affliction, God was afflicted.’ God identifies with the suffering of the Jewish people, and as the Christian community, we must feel their suffering, too.”
On Oct. 7, Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas invaded Israel from neighboring Gaza, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 others as hostages. It was the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Mounting evidence has documented Hamas’ systematic use of torture and sexual violence, including mass rape, against the Israeli people during the onslaught.
“We are proud to partner with Eagles’ Wings on Solidarity Sunday to shine a light on the atrocities committed on Oct. 7 and to build deep and lasting alliances across religions based on our shared values,” a Moral Hearts Alliance spokesperson said in a statement. “We share a commitment to support Israel and combat antisemitism in all of its forms.”
According to a press release for Sunday’s church visits, the Oct. 7 survivors’ stories include “a grandmother who hid from her Gazan neighbors with her three grandchildren, a Nova Music Festival survivor who barely escaped the scene and then returned the next day to serve in his reserve army unit, an Israeli official whose family member is still being held hostage in Gaza,” and other such incidents.
“Evil must no longer be able to hide in the shadows of silence, in the terrorist tunnels of Gaza, or behind the propaganda of Israel’s enemies,” Stearns said. “These brave Israelis will expose what they have suffered at the hands of Hamas.”
“Hitler’s antisemitism has taken a new form today through Hamas and its supporters,” he added.
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Congregation Kehliath Jeshurun in Manhattan called “Solidarity Sunday” a “truly a sacred day” in a statement. “Christians and Jews will join their hearts together in support of Israel, at a time when Israel needs it most,” he continued. “Solidarity Sunday is a true fulfillment of Psalm 133:1: ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!’”
Yom HaShoah begins on Sunday evening and will be observed by much of the Jewish world on Monday.
The post Oct. 7 Survivors to Visit Churches Across America for Holocaust Remembrance Day first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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