US politicians on both sides of the aisle issued statements to mark the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, with Kamala Harris paying tribute to the victims and calling in their honor to “never give up the dream of peace, dignity and security for all”.
Outside the vice presidential residence, Harris, accompanied by her husband, spoke about the nearly 1,200 people, including 46 Americans, who were killed in Israel a year ago.
She mentioned a singer from Missouri who died shielding her son from bullets, an academic and peace activist who studied in Seattle, and a dancer from California who was killed at the Nova music festival.
Harris expressed his commitment to “always ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself” and named each of the seven American hostages still held in Gaza, including four believed to be alive are.
“We must uphold the promise of repairing the world, an idea passed down through generations of the Jewish people and across many religions,” she added. “To this end, we must work to alleviate the immense suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza who have experienced so much pain and loss over the past year.”
Joe Biden previously commemorated the anniversary on Monday with a candlelight ceremony at the White House.
The US president was accompanied by Jill Biden and Rabbi Aaron Alexander, who said a short prayer. Biden did not speak at the ceremony, but he previously paid tribute in a statement to “the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust” and condemned the “vicious wave of anti-Semitism in America” since the attacks.
“The October 7 attack brought back painful memories left by millennia of hatred and violence against the Jewish people,” he said, before also referring to the suffering of Palestinians.
“I believe that history will also remember October 7 as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day. Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict.”
Harris also nodded to the more than 40,000 Palestinians who have died in Israel’s years-long war in Gaza.
Related: Celebrating one year since the October 7 attacks – in photos
“I am deeply saddened by the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year – tens of thousands of lives have been lost, children have fled for safety again and again, mothers and fathers are struggling to get food, water and medicine she said. in a statement. “It is well past the time when a hostage situation and a ceasefire can end the suffering of innocent people.”
Related: World leaders mark the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance also spoke out on Monday, using the occasion as an opportunity to attack Biden and Harris. At a pro-Israel rally in Washington DC organized by the Christian group Philos Project, he called the October 7 attacks “the worst terrorist attack since September 11” and an attack not only on Israel and the Jewish people, but also on “ Americans”. .
“It’s shameful that we have an American president and vice president who have done nothing,” he said. “Vice President Harris, our message is: ‘Bring them home.’ Use your authority to bring them home.”
Vance then criticized what he described as the “pro-Hamas” protests taking place across the country on Monday and the students who he said are “supporting Islamic radicals, destroying property and threatening Jewish students and professors.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump visited the Ohel, the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in New York City on Monday. The site is considered a place of pilgrimage by many Orthodox Jews — a group that widely supports the former president, unlike other Jewish Americans who tend to vote Democratic.
Trump will speak later on Monday at a memorial event at his golf course in Doral, Florida.
He is widely expected to turn the event into an attack on his rival. In recent weeks he has said that he has been “by far the best president” for Israel, and that Jewish voters who support Harris should “have their heads examined.”
