October 7: We Must Remember What Happenedand Why Today, October 7, is not just another date on a calendar. It is a day of remembrance. A day to remember innocent people who were murdered in their homes. Families slaughtered. Young people murdered at a music festival. Children, parents, grandparents and elderly people who woke up that morning expecting nothing more than another day of life. And it is a day to remember the people who were dragged from their homes and taken hostage into Gaza. Three years later, the horror of October 7 has not become any less horrifying. On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched a coordinated assault on southern Israel. More than 1,200 people were killed, the overwhelming majority civilians, and 251 people were abducted and taken into Gaza. A United Nations investigation concluded that Hamas-led forces deliberately attacked civilians, took hostages and committed war crimes. That is not “resistance.” That is not a peaceful protest. That is not liberation. That is terrorism. And Hamas deserves to be named for exactly what it is. Israel Had Already Left Gaza There is a part of this history that seems to disappear from far too many conversations. In 2005, Israel made an enormous and painful decision. Israel disengaged from Gaza. Twenty-one Israeli communities were evacuated. Approximately 9,000 Israeli residents were removed from their homes. Israeli soldiers subsequently withdrew from the Gaza Strip. The United Nations recorded the completion of Israel’s military withdrawal in September 2005. Israel did not have to make that decision easily. Israeli families were pulled from homes where some had lived for decades. Synagogues, schools and communities were dismantled. It was an extraordinarily painful moment inside Israel itself. Israel’s stated purpose was to remove its permanent presence from Gaza and allow Palestinians to run their own affairs. And what happened afterward? Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and, in June 2007, violently seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority. Hamas forces took over government and security installations after days of fighting with Fatah. That history matters. Because when someone tells me that October 7 was simply the inevitable result of Israel refusing to leave Gaza, I have to ask: Then what was 2005? Israel had already pulled its civilians and permanent military presence out of Gaza. The answer to that question does not make every subsequent Israeli policy beyond criticism. But it does destroy the simplistic story that October 7 happened because Israel had never left Gaza. And Then There Is That Chant There is another phrase I hear constantly: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” I have watched young people scream it in the streets. I have watched college students hold signs and repeat slogans while appearing completely unable to explain what they are actually demanding. And honestly, that should concern everyone. Because if you are going to chant a political slogan calling for an entire territory to be “free,” you should at least understand what territory you are talking about. The phrase refers geographically to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, the territory that includes the State of Israel. Its meaning and political use are contested, and not every person who repeats it necessarily intends the same thing. But major Jewish and pro-Israel organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, interpret the slogan in its commonly used anti-Israel context as calling for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. So I have a question for the people screaming it: Do you actually know what you’re demanding? Because there is a difference between advocating for Palestinian rights and advocating for the destruction of Israel. There is a difference between wanting peace for Palestinians and chanting a slogan that many Israelis and Jews understand as a call for their country to disappear. And there is a difference between protesting a government and erasing an entire people’s right to self-determination. You don’t have to love every decision made by the Israeli government to believe that Israel has a right to exist. You don’t have to hate Palestinians to love Israel. And you certainly don’t have to choose between compassion for innocent Palestinians and condemnation of Hamas. But October 7 should have made one thing unmistakably clear: Hamas is not a liberation movement that can be romanticized from thousands of miles away. Hamas deliberately attacked civilians. Hamas took hostages. Hamas brought terror into Israeli homes and communities. And the people who lived through October 7 don’t have the luxury of pretending otherwise. Remember October 7 So today, I remember Israel. I remember the families whose lives were destroyed. I remember the young people who went to a music festival and never came home. I remember the children who watched their parents die. I remember the elderly who were dragged away. I remember the hostages. And I remember the people who still carry the scars, physical, emotional and invisible. Most of all, I remember that words matter. History matters. Context matters. And the truth matters. Israel has a right to exist. The Jewish people have a right to their homeland. Israeli civilians have a right to live without being hunted, murdered or kidnapped. And Palestinians deserve a future free from Hamas too. But there can be no honest remembrance of October 7 without saying plainly who started that particular nightmare: Hamas. October 7 was not a slogan. It was not a protest. It was not a theoretical debate about borders. It was a massacre. And on this October 7, I will remember the victims, stand with Israel, and refuse to allow the world to forget what happened. Never forget October 7. Never forget the victims. Never forget the hostages. And never confuse terrorism with freedom.