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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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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.