Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (MI-08)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-07) released the following statement on the one-year anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks:
“Today marks one year since 1,200 Israelis were murdered, the single largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. Thousands were wounded, women were raped, and hundreds were taken hostage during Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel.
“Today is a somber day, an opportunity to remember and honor the parents, children, friends, and neighbors lost in an indiscriminate massacre defined by sheer hate.
“It is also an important moment to acknowledge the trauma that persists in Israeli society, as those touched by that day continue to grapple with the loss. A year later, more than 60 hostages – including four Americans – remain in Hamas captivity, and more than 100,000 Israelis are displaced from their homes.
“But it’s also the bitter anniversary of a year of pain, and the cycle of violence that came after the attack. It is hard to overstate how this crisis has roiled the state of Michigan for 365 days. And one of the saddest things about what’s happened is that, in talking to both Jewish Americans and Arab and Muslim Americans nearly each day since, both communities experienced mirror-image pain this year. Both communities see themselves and their children in the faces of the wounded and killed. Both communities feel like other Americans don’t care about their dead. Both communities feel like some who used to support them no longer do. Both are pained by the sharp rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia. Both sides fear for their kids, and their experience at college. And both sides are struggling to find a path forward to feel hopeful about.
“As the Jewish prayer says, ‘As long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.’ I’m sending my thoughts to all those in mourning today and to everyone who was touched by this tragedy.”