NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The parallels between the Holocaust and Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre are obvious: Jews being targeted for death en masse for being Jewish.
"Every year we call out 'Never Again,' but tragically recently we found ourselves once again, once more in history ... in an unimaginable and a horrific ungraspable nightmare," Aviv Ezra, Israel's acting consul general in New York, said at a Shabbat [sabbath in Hebrew] service and program Saturday at the Upper East Side's Park East Synagogue, to honor International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
"This Shabbat we come together in a difficult time, for today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we remember the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust by the Nazi regime," Ezra, whose talk was titled "Never Again: 1939 - October 7th," said. "We mourn their loss, we honor their memory and we resolve to ensure their death was not in vain … by telling theirs and our story continuously."
Recalling Hamas' devastating attack, Ezra said, "On Oct. 7 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel with a stated goal to eradicate the Jewish people from the '[Jordan] River to the Mediterranean] Sea, and committed unspeakable atrocities against innocent civilians: Men, women, children, young babies, the very elderly including Holocaust survivors that had to go through a massacre and atrocities again, and kidnapped our beloved ones. 240 of them," Ezra said.
Ezra also made a bold comparison between the Nazis and Hamas terrorists.
Directing his comments at 92-year-old, Austrian-born Park East senior rabbi Arthur Schneier, a Holocaust survivor, Ezra said, "Rabbi, in some ways, Hamas exceeded the Nazi regime," he said. "They gleefully broadcasted their crimes against humanity for all to see. The Nazis tried to cover their crimes, but Hamas didn't because they wanted not only to kills Israelis, but the spirit of Israelis, to kill Israeli spirit."
Freed hostage Shoshan Haran speaks at the Park East Synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side at its International Holocaust Remebrance Day service and program on Jan. 27, 2024.1010 WINS
Other speakers, aside from Rabbi Schneier, included Shoshan Haran, a released hostage. She was kidnapped from her home in Israel to Gaza, along with her daughter, grandchildren, son-in-law, the latter of whom was murdered Oct. 7.
Gili Roman, whose sister was kidnapped and remains in Gaza, speaks at the Park East Synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side at its International Holocaust Remebrance Day service and program on Jan. 27, 2024.1010 WINS
Another speaker was Gili Roman, the brother of released hostage Yarden Roman-Gat who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be'eri (pictured, below) on Oct. 7, and brother-in-law of hostage Carmel Gat.
Landscape views of Kibbutz Be'eri -- where Yarden Roman-Gat was kidnapped -- over three months after Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack, on January 11, 2024, in Be'eri, Israel.Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
"We, as the government of Israel, the people of Israel, the family, are committed to bringing them back home," Ezra said. "In my capacity ... this is what I'm focused on every day, I'm working with members of Congress, U.S. senators, state legislators, media, this is what I'm committed to since Oct. 7."
Ezra's previous stateside positions include the Chicago-based consul general to the Midwest, the Washington-based consul for congressional affairs at the Israeli embassy and the Atlanta-based deputy consul general of Israel to the Southeast.
People demonstrate for the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 during a 100 Days of Captivity rally outside the UN Headquarters on January 12, 2024 in New York City.Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Ezra also acknowledged the rise in overt antisemitism in the U.S. and globally. (According to the ADL, between Oct. 7 and Dec. 7, there was a 337% increase year-over-year in antisemitic incidents).
"Since then, not only Israelis, but Jews around the world, right here in the land of the free and home of the brave ... who would have believed? ... many American Jews I have spoken to have never felt so targeted … in the aftermath of Hamas' vicious massacre, we have witnessed an alarming rise of antiseminitsm here and around the world."
Ezra cited antisemitism's long history: "It has trailed us from Egypt to Babylon to Persia, from Rome to Germany to the kibbutzim of southern Israel to 42nd and 2nd to when I witnessed firsthand a demonstrasion against our consulate on Oct. 8 -- not Oct. 28 when we began our military operations. On Oct. 8 we were still fighting for our lives. On Oct. 8 they were chanting 'From the river to the sea, globalize intifadah!' This was not about political statement, this was not about policy."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a news conference with family members of people held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and a bipartisan group of Senators from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the U.S. Capitol January 17, 2024 in Washington, DC.Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Despire antisemitic voices in the streets, on college campuses and on social media, Ezra struck an optimistic note:
"In this great nation, leaders have loud and clear support for Israel -- bipartisan," he said. "President Biden, Secretaries Blinken and Austin, Speaker Johnson, Senator Schumer, state leadership ... this network of brothers and sisters is crucial."
He added, "When we stand united, anything is possible and the support I've seen from our brothers and sisters here in America, it makes me quite confident that we will bring the hostages home today, we will fight evil ... But on that front of killing our spirit they have failed miserably."
