The Hamas massacre on October 7 turned a “paradise into hell,” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said in his speech at the prerecorded state ceremony to commemorate one year since the deadly attack.
The ceremony began with the lighting of a memorial torch by Chief-Superintendent Dvir Arubas, the commander of the Sderot Police Station, and Maj. Noam Fixler, deputy commander of the Caracal infantry battalion.
Next came a section called The Scream and the Shatter in which a troupe of women dancers clad in white danced to a song called “Does Anyone Hear Me?” performed by singer Nofya Yedidya.
The ceremony was hosted by five family members of casualties and survivors of the massacre, including Chen Zander, sister of Noah Zander, who was killed on Oct. 7, and Shimon Atias, uncle of Amit Bouskila, who was killed and taken hostage by Hamas and whose body was returned by the IDF.
“It has already been a year – a full year of heartbreak and pain. A year since the morning of Simchat Torah, which turned into the day of our disaster. The morning of October 7th. A year since a murderous enemy entered our homes, burned and tortured, raped and wounded, slaughtered and kidnapped; all with monstrous and cruel glee,” Herzog said in his address.
“Until my last day, I will be haunted by the smell of burnt bodies and the sight of pools of blood, alongside family photos and children’s books – in the paradise that turned into Hell,” Herzog said.
“And as we say in our prayers, it has been a year that we have been crying for all the murdered and fallen: some by fire, some by suffocation, some by sword, and some by beasts,” the president lamented.
Herzog expressed his hope for the return of the hostages, his condolences to bereaved families, and his hope for the quick return of evacuees from the North and South to their homes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his recorded address that alongside the “pain, loss, and indescribable sorrow,” Israel was not being defeated, but rather the opposite. “We are acting to defeat and deter our enemies,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister also praised the solidarity that exists in Israel, which he said was “unparalleled amongst the nations.” He pledged that Israel would continue to fight until it achieved all of its goals. Netanyahu also quoted Lali Deri, whose son Saadia was killed in battle: “Shadow is not darkness. A shadow is a sign that there is light from behind. Even if a mountain of grief obscures the light, we must all, as a nation, climb the mountain because the light exists. We must always aim up, towards the light.”
A number of children affected by the massacre and war then sang the song “Etzleynu Bagan” (“At Our Preschool”). An extra stanza was added to the song in memory of the 12 Druze children killed by a Hezbollah rocket in July.
Another part of the ceremony included a series of soldiers and civilians wounded on October 7 and the ensuing war, whose conditions were critical but survived and had begun their long process of rehabilitation.
Singers Amir Dadon and Shuli Rand sang “Ana b’Choach” as a prayer for the return of the hostages. Another song included was “Latzet Midikaon” (Overcoming Depression), by Yagel Oshri. This song became popular during the war and includes a line that says, “Even at the darkest hours of the night, there will be a small star that will light your way home.”
The ceremony was coordinated by Transportation Minister Miri Regev. Regev announced in August that the event would be filmed in advance and broadcast on October 7 and would not include a live ceremony.
The prerecorded ceremony was filmed in Ofakim and was broadcast on all major Israeli TV channels. It began right after the end of a ceremony organized by family members of casualties of the massacre and of hostages still held in Gaza, which was held with a live audience in Tel Aviv and in which politicians did not participate.
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