Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the planned demonstration while politicians focused their words on Israeli victims.
Events are being held across the United States to mark the one-year anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on October 7 and the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Political leaders focused their mourning on the Israeli victims of the October 7 attack, which killed 1,139 people.
US President Joe Biden on Monday condemned the “unspeakable atrocities” of the attack and offered his condolences to the victims, including the killed and kidnapped Americans, while continuing to uphold Israel’s right to defend itself. He reiterated that he is committed.
But he was less ambiguous in his remarks about Gaza, where Israel has killed at least 41,909 Palestinians, destroyed much of the enclave, and forced a large part of the Gaza population to flee their homeland. There wasn’t.
Biden said it was a “dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas instigated that day.”
Mr. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on Monday commemorated the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian fighters breached the barrier between Gaza and Israel and raided a military base and several Israeli communities. A solemn memorial service was held at the White House. .
Pro-Palestinian protests are expected across the United States, with demonstrators alleging US complicity in war crimes committed in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.
Large-scale protests are planned for New York, with organizers planning to start on Wall Street and spread out across the city.
People pray during a demonstration near the New York Stock Exchange on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, on October 7, 2024, in New York City, United States. (David Dee Delgado/Reuters)
Rallies are also scheduled to be held in other cities, including Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, as well as on university campuses where pro-Palestinian sit-ins earlier this year led to attacks by police and pro-Israel demonstrators.
Since then, many universities have cracked down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, giving them the power to take tougher action against future sit-ins and protests.
Harris: “My heart hurts.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate for the next US election, released her own comments on Monday, saying: “We must all ensure that the horrors of October 7th never happen again,” he added. “We will do everything in our power to ensure the Hamas threat is eliminated.”
Harris also apologized to the Palestinian victims, but did not directly condemn Israel for its actions that inflicted mass civilian suffering.
“I am heartbroken by the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year,” Harris said. “Thousands of lives have been lost, children have repeatedly fled for safety, and mothers and fathers have struggled to access food, water and medicine.”
Pro-Israel demonstrators participate in an Israel-Hamas War Remembrance Day rally organized by the Firoz Project in Washington, USA, on October 7, 2024. Leah Millis/Reuters)
The anniversary comes as Harris and her Republican opponent, former U.S. President Donald Trump, enter the final weeks of their campaign as conflict escalates in the Middle East.
Trump is scheduled to speak to Jewish community leaders at one of his Florida resorts in the Miami suburb of Doral. Harris will speak briefly to journalists and join her husband to plant a pomegranate tree on the grounds of the vice president’s residence in memory of the victims of the October 7 attack.
In excerpts released from an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes” that aired Monday night, Harris discussed whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considered a “true and close ally” of the United States. He seemed to avoid answering the question. Instead she rephrased the question as follows: “Is there a significant alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes. ”