OCTOBER 7th: 3rd ANNIVERSARY
Israel’s official state ceremony to remember the victims and heroes of the Oct. 7 massacre was held at the monument for fallen terror victims on Mount Herzl on Monday 5 Oct corresponding to 24 Tishrei, the date in the Jewish calendar officially designated for national remembrance.
In a commemorative address, IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir acknowledged that the IDF had failed in its core mission to protect Israeli civilians when borders were breached and stressed the duty to investigate the events, learn lessons, and rebuild public trust. He honoured the victims, fallen security forces, and hostages. Zamir also expressed solidarity with bereaved and affected families and paid tribute to the troops, reservists, and civilian employees supporting the war effort.
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The stories of civilians and soldiers killed since Hamas’ onslaught on Israel on 7.10.23
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The inspiring story of Lt Col Or Ben-Yehuda, commander of the Caracal Battalion, one of many heroic female fighters, who on Oct 7 with her small force of male and female soldiers played a major part in repelling hundreds of terrorists who poured in from the border fence, and battled for hours to defend the area.
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Just one example of heroism on that day: On October 7, Oz Davidian of Moshav Maslul drove his pickup truck off-road into the danger zone 15 times under fire to rescue people fleeing the Nova music festival. He brought 120 survivors to safety, allowing them to use his phone to brief their parents, while navigating locations sent by hiding survivors. Three years later, Davidian remains in treatment for post-trauma, still bonded with the survivors in a shared WhatsApp group.
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Many Israelis are still grappling with the trauma of October 7 and the multifront war the attack triggered. In a June poll, 74% of respondents said they fear that terrorists will carry out another large-scale attack, and 66% said they want the October 7 attack to be investigated by a state commission of inquiry.
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Three years on many residents in the targeted Israeli communities view neighbouring Gaza strictly as a security threat. Across the region, visible reminders of the attack persist in public spaces, including memorial stickers, highway monuments, and piles of rusted, bullet-riddled vehicles. Despite ongoing efforts to rebuild the damaged communities, residents remain deeply traumatized by their experiences while insisting on preserving the memory of the events.
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As Israeli and Jewish communities around the world mark the third anniversary of Oct. 7, 262 anti-Israel protests and events have been identified in 37 countries, some on the actual day. However, citing a request from France’s interior minister and a threat to public order, Paris police chief Patrice Faure banned an anti-Israel demonstration planned for the third anniversary.
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THREE YEARS OF WAR
Of the 6,000 Gazans who infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7, 4,000 have been killed, Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder, head of IDF Military Intelligence said on Sunday. “There are 2,000 remaining, and we will get to every last one of them.”
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In 3 years of war, the IDF hit approximately 100,000 targets, including 65,000 in the Gaza Strip, 28,000 in Lebanon and Syria, 4,500 in Iran, and 80 in Yemen, while around 31,500 projectiles were fired at Israel.
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According to a report by Clalit Health Services, new PTSD diagnoses in Israel doubled in the year following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack and continued to rise during three years of war. The study, covering roughly 5 million members, highlights a severe mental health toll on children, adolescents, and thousands of evacuees from northern and southern Israel.
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GAZA: FAKE JOURNALISTS EXPOSED
The IDF published verified evidence and the names of 170 Palestinians killed in Gaza who were presented as journalists or media workers but who also served as members of terrorist groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Breakdown of the group includes 118 military wing members of Hamas and 49 from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with 17 having directly participated in the October 7 attacks and some having worked for major international news outlets. These disclosures aim to refute accusations that Israel systematically targets journalists, noting that the terrorist groups themselves claimed several of these individuals within their ranks.
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GAZA TUNNELS
As videos and photos circulate showing the devastation in Gaza, the IDF published a video showing what lies beneath: a vast network of heavily fortified tunnels. Hamas built an underground military fortress that housed its military equipment and weapons arsenals and allowed its terrorists to conduct ambush-style raids on Israeli troops.
The video shows satellite photos of Rafah, overlaid by bright red lines crisscrossing over each other to form a complex tunnel maze, followed by actual footage taken by IDF soldiers inside the tunnels.
Watch 26 second video:
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GAZA WAR AGAINST HAMAS
Three years into the war in Gaza, the IDF controls 63% of the territory and has adopted a forward-based defence strategy to protect Israeli communities. Operationally, the military continues targeting Hamas’s leadership—eliminating key brigade and battalion commanders, including several involved in the October 7 attacks—and actively drilling across the Strip to map underground tunnel networks. The IDF notes that these precise strikes require prolonged intelligence and surveillance to locate targets hiding in tunnels or densely populated areas while seeking to minimize civilian harm.
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NAZA “DOCUMENTARY”
Three Israelis Lt. Col. Roi Danino, Hagai Gutman, and Ariel Averbuch have released a documentary designed to directly counter and discredit NAZA the controversial, Venice Film Festival award-winning film that alleges systematic Israeli military misconduct in Gaza.
NAZA: The Real Story is an explicit rebuttal of the original film’s anonymous whistleblower claims.
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Watch (49 minutes):
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The IDF released a 10-page document fully rejecting claims made in the documentary film “NAZA,” calling its portrayal of military targeting processes distorted, misleading, and based on substantial factual errors. The military stated that binding directives require steps to minimize civilian harm, denying that artificial intelligence ever independently selects targets or that strikes targeting hundreds of civilians were approved. The IDF noted that interviewees in the film only describe preliminary intelligence stages omitting the broader process through which strikes are planned and approved.
The documentary also omits essential context including the October 7 massacre and Hamas operations within civilian populations.
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HIZBULLAH
According to Lt.-Col. (res.) Sarit Zehavi, although Hizbullah’s plan to invade the Galilee was neutralized and its ground forces in southern Lebanon collapsed, the group still retains 15,000 rockets and is expanding its drone capabilities. The organization is heavily focused on military reconstruction, including training new operatives, gathering intelligence, smuggling weapons from Syria, and manufacturing arms within Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces have failed to fulfill their commitment to disarm Hizbollah.
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JIHAD
Muslims are the primary victims of jihadist violence, with 320,405 people killed in Islamic terrorist attacks over the past quarter-century across ongoing conflicts in regions like Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, and Iran. The Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned most jihadist movements, is persecuted by Arab nations that recognize its danger, even as its influence grows in the West. According to Brown University data, 4.5 million people have been killed in post-2001 conflicts mostly in Muslim countries, meaning the reported 75,000 deaths in Gaza account for roughly 1.6% of that total, with the majority being men of fighting age.
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MEDICAL
At the age of 18, Kassandra Bacon was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Hodgkin lymphoma and underwent an experimental procedure to freeze thin slices of her ovarian tissue before starting high-dose chemotherapy that would leave her infertile.
At 44, after facing repeated rejections in Europe due to regulatory hurdles, she partnered with Dr. Sara Matthews to seek treatment overseas from Professor Dror Meirow at Sheba Medical Centre in Israel. Professor Meirow successfully grafted her 25-year-old stored ovarian tissue back into her ovaries in May 2024. The procedure restored her fertility and resulted in the birth of her son, a global scientific milestone that Professor Meirow noted demonstrates the long-term potential and safety of fertility preservation for cancer survivors.
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TECHNOLOGY
It took 10 years, but Israeli company StoreDot is delivering on its promise: electric vehicle batteries that can charge in just 10 minutes. The company has completed the development stage and signed agreements with several companies in China and South Korea that will manufacture the groundbreaking batteries
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THE UK
Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs have written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, asking the watchdog to consider whether the Green Party has broken the law through its adoption of the controversial “Zionism is Racism” motion.
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Lubna Speitan, the sponsor of the motion, is close friends with an al Qaida terrorist Minh Quang Pham, who plotted to bomb passengers landing at Heathrow from Israel.
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Israel’s Prime Minister accused the Labour government of behaving “like a rogue state” and appeasing “Islamist forces,” amid deteriorating relations, citing the UK’s decision to ban imports of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, restrictions on arms exports and the UK’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
He contrasted those measures with Israeli intelligence co-operation, pointing to information that he said recently helped Britain thwart a suspected Iran-sponsored attack on RAF Fairford airbase.
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Britain’s Royal College of Nursing, representing hundreds of thousands of nurses and nursing staff, has severed all ties with Teva UK, the British branch of Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva Pharmaceuticals, the largest generic drug manufacturer in the world.
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British Airways announced that it will resume operating a daily flight between London and Tel Aviv on October 25. Iberia, part of the same airline group, is also returning and will operate a daily flight to Madrid.
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SPORT
Israel ended its second game against Ireland in a 1:1 draw in a UEFA Nations League match Sunday evening. Israel’s players wore black armbands to mark the anniversary of the October 7 massacre.
Israel had drawn 0-0 against Kosovo last Thursday.
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Ilai Timan won the European Shinkyokushin Karate Championship in Latvia.
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COMMENT & OPINION
Oct 7
JPost Editorial: Three years later, it can be tempting to think of Oct 7 as a dark moment that belongs to the past. But Israel has never really had the chance to put it there.
The war that began that morning has yet to be fully resolved. Hamas has not been fully disarmed, its future in Gaza remains unsettled, and the questions of who will govern Gaza and what will prevent another October 7 remain unanswered.
Beyond Gaza, Iran and its proxies remain a threat, and Israel continues to confront a region in which the possibility of another war is never far away.
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Andrew Roberts (Baron Roberts of Belgravia): I documented the crimes of Oct 7. Too many still believe the lies of Hamas. The myriad atrocities were filmed, and yet the terrorists denied them within hours – why should we now trust they will disarm?
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Note: Lord Roberts chaired the 7 October Parliamentary Commission report.
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Dr Tuvia Book: Three years later, I look back at Kfar Aza and Be’eri, the soldiers beside me, and what this war has taught me about courage, loss and who we are.
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Avraham Russell Shalev: While October 7 reshaped Israeli society, there has been no real soul-searching or questioning of assumptions among the West’s professional ‘peace-processors’.
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Khaled Abu Toameh: Three years after the Oct. 7 attack, chants at Gazan funeral processions—such as “Oct. 7 will return!”—indicate that Hamas and its supporters view the invasion as an operation to be repeated. These public expressions undermine diplomatic narratives of peace and challenge President Trump’s peace plan, which envisions transforming Gaza into a deradicalized, demilitarized zone through education in tolerance. Ultimately, while economic aid and reconstruction can rebuild physical infrastructure, they cannot dismantle the underlying ideology that continue to mobilize thousands.
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Anti-Israel Rallies on or around Oct 7
Cynthia Yacowar: Anti-Israel Rallies on Oct 7 May Be Legal. They Are Also Morally Indefensible.
There is something profoundly disturbing about holding such rallies on the anniversary of a massacre – a day on which families remember loved ones who were brutally slaughtered, raped, burned alive and taken hostage. Invoking “martyrs” and “resistance” on Oct. 7 appears to glorify the barbaric violence that the families of those murdered and taken hostage that day are mourning.(paywall)
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Gaza
Michael Mandelbaum: Following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the charge that Israel was committing genocide began circulating and gained wide acceptance. The charge is false. Israel conducted its Gaza campaign with greater fidelity to long-accepted international ethical and legal standards than any other country ever has. Repeating false genocide claims legitimizes Hamas’s crimes. The highest plausible estimate of Palestinian deaths represents 3% of Gaza’s population, a large portion being combatants, in no small part because Israel went to extraordinary lengths to spare civilians.
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Brendan O’Neill: Gaza is the most lied about war in history. Nothing else comes close. The branding of a war as a ‘genocide’, and normal war suffering as ‘famine’, is a flagrant crime against truth…It’s three years since 7 October. Since the most savage assault on the Jewish people in the post-Nazi era. That so many ‘progressives’ in the West sided with the rapists and murderers of Jews still horrifies me.
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The UK
- Tel. Editorial: A failed attempt to crash a Flydubai flight headed for Israel serves as a reminder that Israeli civilians face ongoing threats three years after October 7. Despite these shared threats from Iran and Islamist extremists, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has brought UK-Israel relations to an all-time low by introducing a new package of sanctions. This follows the Labour Party’s recognition of Palestinian statehood last year, in return for precisely nothing, a move praised by Hamas as a victory. Britain should stand as an ally with Israel; catering to anti-Israel voters ultimately weakens collective security.
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Amit Segal: UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband equated the barbaric terrorist organisation Hamas with the state of Israel that was defending itself against it. He is pushing a Palestinian state that no Israeli government formed after the October elections would accept. Anyone relying on Miliband’s social media posts would come away thinking Israel is the world’s greatest evil.
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Robert Philpot: 90 years on, why are British Jews being erased from the heroic Battle of Cable Street?
Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union, caused controversy in June by planning a Cable Street anniversary event on Shabbat and publishing a webpage that initially omitted any mention of the Jewish community. The original webpage framed the victory purely around working-class pride and unity against hate without acknowledging Jewish involvement. Following backlash, the union edited the webpage to recognize the role of Jews and rescheduled the event to avoid falling on a Saturday.
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Nicole Lampert: I’ve documented the disease (of anti-Semitism) in our schools, our universities, our NHS, and our unions. I’ve received all the online abuse. But until Sunday I had never experienced the full wall of demented hatred that is anti-Zionism. Ironically, this encounter took place at an “anti-racist” demonstration intended to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, an event where the Left originally stood with East End Jews against Oswald Mosley’s fascists.
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Brendan O’Neill: The Green Party is now an openly anti-Jewish party. Click Here
Rob Rinder on X: Declaring “Zionism is racism” is not merely wrong, it tells most Jews that their understanding of their own history, identity and collective freedom is itself morally suspect.
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