‘The scars of that day run deep’

As a people, we’re still haunted by the images of what happened on 7 October, “when the gates of hell opened, and Hamas terrorists unleashed a wave of brutality that shook the conscience of humanity”.

So said Rowan Polovin, the national chairperson of the South African Zionist Federation, at the organisation’s commemoration ceremony at Yeshiva College campus in Johannesburg.

“One morning, in an instant, our lives changed forever. Homes once filled with laughter became battle fields and scenes of horror. Innocent civilians, families, and children became targets of the brutal attack that shocked the very soul of Israel,” said deputy Israeli ambassador to South Africa, Adi Cohen-Hazanov.

A common thread throughout the ceremony was that “7 October didn’t end on 7 October” and that Israelis and Jewish communities around the world were still reeling from that day.

“The scars of that day run deep, etched into the hearts of every Israeli, etched into the history of our nation,” Cohen-Hazanov said. “Each day, we feel the weight of loss, the faces of the fallen in our minds, and the great fear of knowing the next name to be published. The ache of those still missing is always in our thoughts. It’s a grief that never fades, a trauma that binds us all. We all lost someone or something.”

Said Polovin, “Families were incinerated in their homes. Women were brutally raped. Children are subject to unspeakable cruelty. The air filled with the sickening sounds of terrorists celebrating their barbaric acts. Hundreds of partygoers were massacred at a music festival. One thousand two hundred innocent lives were extinguished. More than 250 people, including women, children, and babies, were taken hostage by cheering savages, with more than 100 still languishing in captivity. It was the darkest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein told the throngs, “October 7 isn’t over because our enemies seek to perpetrate it again and again in the south and north. We know this isn’t about a Palestinian state. We know this isn’t about a political objective. We know this is about their intention to destroy the Jewish state, led by Iran and the forces of violent jihad. They will stop only when they are defeated completely – ad hanitzchachon [until victory].”

Polovin went on to say that in the aftermath of what happened that day, Jewish communities around the world weren’t met with sympathy but with a wave of antisemitism – on university campuses, the streets of Western cities, even in the halls of the United Nations.

“Here in South Africa, we have witnessed with dismay the unconscionable actions of the ANC [African National Congress] government,” said Polovin. “The crowning disgrace came when our government brought genocide charges against Israel at the International Court of Justice. This perverse inversion of justice, accusing the victims of the very crime committed against them, represents a betrayal, not just of South Africa’s Jewish citizens, but of the democratic values shared by humanity in South African society.

“The South African Jewish community’s support for Israel isn’t a matter of choice, it’s our sacred identity and shared destiny. Yet we take heart in knowing that ordinary South Africans don’t share this obsessive hostility,” Polovin said.

The chief rabbi called out to President Cyril Ramaphosa and the South African government with these words, “You should be thanking Israel because the brothers in arms of Hamas are murdering African Christians across the border in Mozambique. Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, and ISIS [Islamic State] are beheading, burning, and kidnapping in Mozambique, in Nigeria, and across this continent from east to west, from north to south.

“The only way we can truly pay tribute to those who died on 7 October, to the hostages, to those who were brutally burnt, raped, and beheaded, to the citizens of Israel who had to endure rockets and displacement,” said Goldstein. “The only appropriate response to such evil is to defeat it completely. Not a half measure, not a ceasefire, not a pause for peace, but until the end, because only then will the world be safe.”

Due to travel restrictions from Israel, former hostage Margalit Moses, who was scheduled to speak at the event, wasn’t able to come, however the audience was able to hear the story of a 22-year-old resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, Lotus Lahav, and how she managed to survive the attacks on her kibbutz. (See story on page 9.)

Lahav and her mother were able to survive Hamas terrorists entering their home five times on 7 October using a makeshift lock they put on the door to the safe room. They discovered later that they were the lucky ones, as 117 of the 400 residents of Nir Oz were gone and would never return home.

“But out of the ashes of that horrific day, something remarkable happened. In the face of pure evil, the spirit of Israel emerged stronger than ever before,” said Cohen-Hazanov, “Communities, once separated by distance, united as one, volunteers poured in from every corner of the country and the world, offering shelter, food, clothing, and comfort.”

Said Lahav, “In the worst of times, we discover that the community isn’t just where you live, it’s who you live for.”