Hundreds, including survivors and eyewitnesses of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas-led militants, public officials, and community leaders, gathered in Glen Cove at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County to remember the victims, support the hostages’ families, and confront the resurgence of antisemitism worldwide.
The ceremony, hosted by Sid Jacobson JCC of East Hills, drew about 200 people to the museum’s auditorium and featured remarks and reflections about the attacks.
HMTC board Chair Alan Mindel opened the event by invoking a painful reality: the promise of “never again” — a phrase born from the Holocaust — was broken on Oct. 7. “More Jews were murdered in a single day than at any time since the Shoah,” Mindel said, describing the killings, kidnappings and atrocities carried out by Hamas.
Mindel criticized narratives equating Israel’s military response with genocide, arguing that the civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio in Gaza was “one to one,” and not a higher ratio typical in urban warfare. He also pointed to humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza, and rejected claims of widespread starvation.
“We will never be the people we are always accused to be,” he said. “We will honor those we have lost, and we will never let it happen again.”
For 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Rosalie Simon, the anniversary highlighted the ongoing relevance of Israel as a refuge for Jews. She told the crowd that antisemitism “still exists, not only in the pages of history, but currently in all parts of the world,” and said that if Israel had existed during the 1930s and ’40s, countless lives would have been saved.
The personal impact of the attacks was brought into sharp focus by 18-year-old Aviv Lapid, who lived in Sderot, a city less than a mile from Gaza. Lapid recalled how her family sheltered inside their home as militants infiltrated the area. and were told to lock their doors. “We avoided the news and social media as much as possible,” she said. “We have a TV in the shelter, so we watched movies.”
A day later, her family fled the city. Only afterward did she learn that two friends — a volleyball teammate and a classmate — had been killed during the assault. Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz reflected on the global reaction that followed Oct. 7, noting how quickly sympathy shifted to skepticism.
“It became a victim-blaming exercise where victims became suspects, murderers became the accused,” he said. Blumencranz warned that antisemitism often builds gradually, “wearing different masks in different generations.” Criticism of Israel is legitimate, he said, but hatred disguised as political rhetoric is not. “‘Never again’ must mean remembering not just the gas chambers, and not just Oct. 7, but what led us to those places,” he told the audience.
HMTC Executive Director Bali Lerner drew parallels among the violence of Oct. 7, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and rising hate-driven propaganda in the United States. “We must not excuse it by projecting our own values onto those who seek to destroy us,” Lerner said, warning that hatred is spreading “in our very own backyard.”
She emphasized that the attacks would not break the Jewish people or diminish their resolve. “It will not dim our light,” Lerner said. “Instead, it will strengthen us.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi shared a similar message of solidarity. Acknowledging the “violence, awful behavior and betrayal” endured by the Jewish community, Suozzi pledged to stand with it “100 percent.” He expressed hope that the release of the remaining hostages could mark a turning point, but urged attendees to “stick with our values” and “hold together” through adversity.
Assemblyman Charles Lavine, president of the New York chapter of the National Association of Jewish Legislators, wrote in an email to the Herald after the event that the brutality of Oct. 7 remained “indelibly etched” in his memory.
He described the kidnapping of hostages as “primitive,” and praised Americans of all faiths who “stood together against hatred” in the aftermath of the attack. Lavine called on leaders at every level to tone down divisive rhetoric. “Demagoguery is never worth its results,” he wrote, quoting Abraham Lincoln’s description of America as “the last best hope of earth.”
As the ceremony concluded, candles were lit in memory of the victims, and attendees recommitted themselves to the pledge that “never again” must still guide the fight against hatred.
