Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris marked the anniversary of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust as the presidential candidates approach the final weeks of the campaign during a widening conflict in the Middle East.
Hamas killed 1,200 people, including 46 U.S. citizens, and took about 250 hostages during its surprise attack on Oct. 7 last year. Harris described it as “an act of pure evil.”
She cited the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer in mourning, to talk about “our enduring belief in God, even in our darkest moments.”
Harris said she would remain committed to Israel’s security and the release of hostages held by Hamas, naming several of them in her remarks. She also mentioned a need to to “relieve the immense suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza who have experienced so much pain and loss over the year.”
Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, spoke after Harris to say “this is an incredibly challenging day for Jews around the world, myself included.”
“Today feels just as raw as it did one year ago,” he said, describing the attack as “seared into our souls.”
A fledgling pomegranate tree was placed in a hole nearby at the vice president's residence, and Harris and Emhoff used shovels to cover the roots with dirt. When they finished, they paused and bowed their heads.
On Monday morning, Republican candidate Trump visited the New York City gravesite of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who led the Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Orthodox Judaism from 1951 until his death in 1994.
Schneerson was the movement’s seventh leader, known as Lubavitcher Rebbe, and was regarded by some as a messianic figure, though the Chabad movement has disavowed any teachings suggesting he was the messiah. His image remains ubiquitous around the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, which is home to Chabad-Lubavitch’s world headquarters.
Wearing a black kippah, or skullcap, Trump left a stone atop the headstone of Schneerson’s grave in a traditional Jewish custom. He was planning later in the day to speak before Jewish community leaders at one of his Florida resorts in the Miami suburb of Doral.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden also hosted a memorial ceremony at the White House Monday to mark the one-year anniversary of the attack. The Bidens looked on as Rabbi Aaron Alexander of Washington’s Adas Israel Congregation recited the Jewish remembrance prayer for those killed on Oct. 7. The president then lit a lone memorial candle placed on a small table at the center of the Blue Room, before they observed a moment of silence.
Earlier in the day, Biden spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the White House said.
The Oct. 7 attack sparked a deadly war in Gaza, as Israel moved to root out Hamas' control over the territory and try to return those taken captive. Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, including many women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians.
Another Iran-backed group, Hezbollah, has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli territory in the same period from Lebanon, and Israel last month expanded a campaign of sabotage and assassination and launched a ground incursion into Lebanon to combat the threat from the group.
Iran, meanwhile, has fired large missile salvos at Israel, most recently a week ago. The U.S., which maintains troops and weaponry in the region, helped Israel shoot them down.
Trump has blamed both Harris and Biden for the war, arguing their administration empowered Iran, and he has tried to take advantage of some of the divisions within the Democratic Party with progressives protesting Israel's war.
Some of Trump's statements on Israel overlook his association with people who spew antisemitic rhetoric such as far-right activist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
Trump has repeatedly said that Jewish voters who vote for Democrats “should have their head examined” and recently said that if he loses the presidential election to Harris on Nov. 5 “the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that.”
“I did more for Israel than anybody. I did more for the Jewish people than anybody. And it’s not a reciprocal, as they say,” Trump said Monday in a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt. He also said developers could make Gaza “better than Monaco" because it has “the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything.”
Before Trump spoke in Miami, Florida Jewish community leaders, Republican members of Congress and others, including three Holocaust survivors, were called to the stage to light candles in memory of those killed during the attack a year ago.
In an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Monday night, Harris appeared to avoid answering a question about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considered “a real close ally,” and said, “The better question is: Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes.”
Trump’s own relations with Netanyahu have been rocky. They soured after the Israeli prime minister became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Biden for his 2020 victory, which Trump continues to deny. A few days after the Oct. 7 attack last year, Trump publicly criticized Netanyahu and said he “was not prepared” for the deadly incursion from Gaza. Trump said Netanyahu had let the U.S. down just before the U.S. killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
Since then, the two have met to talk about a cease-fire deal for Gaza.
Halie Soifer, head of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said the conflict in the Middle East — including fighting with Hezbollah and Iran — has left Jewish voters “with a sense of vulnerability and concern for Israel’s future.” Soifer previously advised Harris on national security issues.
She says Harris has been consistent with a message of commitment to Israel’s defense for the last year, "and it’s given the Jewish community a great deal of comfort.”
