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This Year, We Remember the Hostages; Then We Live
People gather in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to mark the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre. Photo: Paulina Patimer
Throughout the month of October, Jews all over the world have gathered around the table with family and friends to celebrate, reflect, and mourn. Rosh Hashanah, a day traditionally filled with love and laughter, marked the beginning of the holy month. Next was Yom Kippur, the day of deep contemplation and expiation. Now, we’ve transitioned into the more festive celebrations of Sukkot and Simchat Torah.
Typically, as we enter Sukkot and Simchat Torah, we are filled with joy and gratitude, celebrating the harvest and dancing with the Torah in hand. But this year feels different. As the anniversary of the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust looms, tears stream down our faces and we are paralyzed by anger and profound sadness. The usual sweetness of the New Year has turned bitter.
How can we remain hopeful for the future when 101 innocent hostages were missing from our Rosh Hashanah meals, Yom Kippur break fasts, and now our Sukkahs?
This October, words like “dark,” “evil,” and “unfathomable” feel empty. Our hearts, already broken, shatter into a million pieces as we realize that our brothers and sisters were supposed to be home by now. For the people of Israel and Jews around the world, the past year has been nothing short of a nightmare.
Anti-Israel protests have flooded our streets and our college campuses. Organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, under the banner of Palestinian suffering, have perpetuated dangerous antisemitic stereotypes while seeking to justify their cause. Over the past year, more Americans have called for ceasefires, an end to “genocide,” and divestment from Israel, rather than raising their voices to demand that we “Bring Them Home.”
Universities across the country became toxic hotbeds of Jew-hatred and anti-Israel rhetoric, invoking the same ostracizing antisemitic ideologies that paved the way for the Holocaust.
At my alma mater, UCLA, I often felt fearful walking through campus, as intense, intimidating, and sometimes violent protests unfolded.
After all, while chants calling for an “intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — which calls for the destruction of Israel — resounded, anti-Zionist professors held seminars just days after October 7th, attempting to contextualize Hamas’ inhuman attack. Where were campus leaders or administrators enforcing the student conduct code or upholding the university’s values?
To my dismay, at my graduation, students armed with keffiyehs proudly waved their red-stained hands, symbolizing the brutality of the Farhud and the Second Intifada, both of which led to the murder of numerous Jews and Israelis. In the absence of leadership and moral clarity, Jewish students were forced to hold the university accountable for allowing an encampment to enforce a “Jew Exclusion Zone.”
Sadly, not much has changed this school year. While Jews celebrate the joyous holiday of Sukkot, Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine has built a sukkah of their own, using our tradition as a tool to further their agenda.
I could go on and on about the injustice of our nation’s discourse regarding the atrocities of October 7th and its aftermath. But now, as we continue to mourn, I choose to divert my attention to the hostages.
Not a day has gone by that we haven’t thought about you. Not a day has passed without me defending you. I begged my editors at my university paper to publish my words about you, and I urged my friends to listen as I explained your situation. I read, I researched, and I hoped. I, along with so many others in our community, have embraced my Jewish identity like never before. Witnessing your fight has reminded me why I am immensely proud to be a passionate Jew.
On days that feel lifeless, I will honor your lives by challenging myself to embody the resilience that defines the Jewish people and enables us to keep moving forward. I will cherish the memory of each hostage whose life was so brutally taken, and hold close the courage of those who continue to fight for their lives with every passing moment.
Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, Master Sgt Ori Danino, Abraham Munder, Alex Dancyg, Yagev Buchshtab, Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, Amiram Cooper, Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, Lior Rudaeff, Elyakim Libman, Orion Hernandez, Chanan Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum, Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, Itzhak Gelerenter, Ron Benjamin, Sonthaya Oakkharasr, Sudthisak Rinthalak, Gadi Haggai, Ron Scherman, Nik Beizer, Tal Chaimi, Joshua Mollel, Eden Zecharya, Ziv Dado, Jonathan Samerano, Sahar Baruch, Dror Kaplun, Aviv Atzili, Arye Zalmanovich, Ronen Engel, Maya Goren, Guy Iluz, Ofir Noa Marciano, Yehudit Weiss, Uriel Baruch, Tamir Adar, Yossi Sharabi, Itay Svirsky, Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka, Alon Shamriz, Inbar Heiman:
May your memory be a blessing. And may your memory ignite a fire within each and every Jewish person to relentlessly pursue and support the justice that Israel deserves: bringing home the rest of the hostages. Your memory should not drift into the abyss of a yearly commemoration of a tragic event, but rather become a constant source of fuel that drives us to protect our people, our home, and our future.
Amidst the grief that overwhelms what is usually a festive time of year, I think of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’ explanation of Jewish resilience: “To mend the past, first you have to secure the future. I learned this from the Holocaust survivors I came to know. They were among the most extraordinary people I’ve ever met, and I wanted to understand how they were able to survive, knowing what they knew, seeing what they saw… Jews survived every tragedy because they looked forward.”
Certainly, we must look forward. But perhaps even more importantly, we must carry the memory of October 7th with us into November and beyond. While the elimination of terrorist leaders like Hassan Nasrallah and Yahya Sinwar brings us some relief, it is not nearly enough.
I cannot think of a better way to commemorate October 7th than to embrace the privilege it is to be alive, using our strength not only to preserve the memory of the hostages, but also to fight for the lives of those still with us. So, later this week, we will dance for Simchat Torah. But we must also envision that glorious moment when the hostages, too, will dance again.
Emily Samuels is a recent graduate of UCLA.
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US Vetoes UN Security Council Demand for Gaza Ceasefire
Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from Israel, June 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The United States vetoed a UN Security Council demand on Wednesday for an “immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire” between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza and unhindered aid access across the enclave.
“The United States has been clear we would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza,” Acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the council before the vote.
“This resolution would undermine diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire that reflects the realities on the ground, and embolden Hamas,” she said of the text that was put forward by 10 countries on the 15-member council.
The remaining 14 council members voted in favor of the draft resolution.
Israel has rejected calls for an unconditional or permanent ceasefire, saying Hamas cannot stay in Gaza. It has renewed its military offensive in Gaza – also seeking to free hostages held by Hamas – since ending a two-month ceasefire in March.
The war in Gaza has raged since 2023 after Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people in Israel in an Oct. 7 attack and took some 250 hostages back to the enclave.
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Trump Picks Lawyer Who Called Oct. 7 Attack a ‘Psyop’ to Lead Federal Watchdog Agency
Paul Ingrassia. Photo: Screenshot
Paul Ingrassia, a 29-year-old lawyer who was recently nominated by US President Donald Trump to lead a federal agency dedicated to combating corruption and protecting whistleblowers, seemingly dismissed the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2o23, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel as a “psyop,” or “psychological operation, in resurfaced social media posts.
“This ‘war’ is yet another psyop to distract Americans from celebrating Columbus Day,” Ingrassia wrote on X/Twitter on Oct. 8, 2023.
“I think we could all admit at this stage that Israel/Palestine, much like Ukraine before it, and BLM before that, and covid/vaccine before that, was another psyop,” he posted a week later. “But sadly, people fell for it. And they’ll fall for the next one too.”
On the actual day of the Oct. 7 massacre, Ingrassia compared illegal immigration into the US to the Hamas-led onslaught.
“The amount of energy everyone has put into condemning Hamas (and prior to that, the Ukraine conflict) over the past 24 hours should be the same amount of energy we put into condemning our wide open border, which is a war comparable to the attack on Israel in terms of bloodshed — but made worse by the fact that it’s occurring in our very own backyard,” he posted. “We shouldn’t be beating the war drum, however tragic the events may be overseas, until we resolve our domestic problems first.”
Trump announced last week that he picked Ingrassia to serve as head of the US Office of Special Counsel, a position that requires confirmation by the Senate.
The Office of Special Counsel is an independent federal ethics agency that works to ensure fairness and accountability within the government. Ingrassia’s role, if he is confirmed, would involve investigating claims of wrongdoing, such as retaliation against whistleblowers or improper political activity in the workplace. The official can recommend disciplinary action and reports serious findings to Congress, helping to protect federal employees and uphold the integrity of the civil service system.
Ingrassia also maintains a relationship with and defends alleged sex trafficker Andrew Tate, who has promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media. Tate wrote on X/Twitter that he refuses to “listen to women, Mexicans, or Jews” and that Jewish people are “subverting Western populations into mass genetic suicide” by advancing what he described as misguided immigration policy. Tate has also accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in Gaza against Palestinians and engaged in Holocaust denialism.
The furor surrounding Ingrassia is the latest dustup the Trump administration has had regarding controversial personnel and antisemitism.
The Trump administration’s appointment of Kingsley Wilson as deputy press secretary at the Department of Defense also sparked widespread criticism due to her history of promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories and extremist views. Wilson, formerly associated with the Center for Renewing America, has a documented history of social media posts endorsing white supremacist ideologies, including claims about the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank — a Jewish man whose wrongful conviction and subsequent murder galvanized the founding of the Anti-Defamation League. In 2023, she tweeted that Frank “raped & murdered a 13-year-old girl,” a statement aligning with neo-Nazi narratives.
Late last month, the Pentagon announced that Wilson will be promoted and serve as the department’s new press secretary.
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US Congress Pushes to Designate Muslim Brotherhood as a Terrorist Organization
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at a press conference about the United States restricting weapons for Israel, at the US Capitol, Washington, DC. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Members of the US Congress are moving quickly to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as an official terrorist organization.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced on Tuesday that he will reintroduce an updated version of the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act.
“In the coming days, I will be circulating and re-introducing a modernized version of the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act, which I have been pushing for my entire Senate career,” he posted on X/Twitter. “The Muslim Brotherhood used the Biden administration to consolidate and deepen their influence, but the Trump administration and Republican Congress can no longer afford to avoid the threat they pose to Americans and American national security.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) sent a letter to the White House on Tuesday asking US President Donald Trump to open an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood, saying that the group maintains “a documented history of promoting extremist ideologies.”
“Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE all declared the Muslim Brotherhood an FTO [foriegn terrorist organization] over a decade ago, and France is considering its own action. Following suit would help the US disrupt the Muslim Brotherhood’s ability to recruit and finance terror around the globe,” Moskowitz wrote on X/Twitter.
The push to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood gained momentum last month, when the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) organized a meeting to help members of Congress develop “strategies to ban the growing threat of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States,” the research group said in a press release.
“The Muslim Brotherhood appears to be the intellectual inspiration behind all Islamist groups (and their jihadist offshoots) that operate today, such as ISIS, al Qaeda, and Hamas,” ISGAP wrote in a 2023 report. “Sunni jihadist groups are grounded in the firm ideological roots that key MB [Muslim Brotherhood] ideologues pioneered in the last century.”
Hamas, the internationally designated terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades and perpetrated the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust with its invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, is a Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Both Cruz and Moskowitz noted that Hamas is a “branch” and an “affiliate” of the global Islamist movement.
While several countries in the Middle East have already classified the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, the United States has yet to do the same, despite several attempts by Congress over the years. During Trump’s first term in office, officials in both the White House and Congress took initial steps toward sanctioning the group’s international branches, but a formal designation was never finalized.
US lawmakers believe they have identified multiple pathways to economically cripple the internationally designated terror organization. Congress could combat the Muslim Brotherhood by designating it a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) or placing it on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list. Both options would levy heavy penalties on the group through methods such as freezing its assets or sanctioning its leadership.
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