"We cry together, we remember together, we seek hope together" – commemoration for victims of Hamas terrorist attack held in Budapest Synagogue

Participants arrived slowly and steadily, filling the benches of Budapest's Dohány street synagogue to capacity on Monday evening. Several police cars were securing the site from the sides of both Wesselényi Street and Dohány Street, as the large crowd of participants was slowly allowed into the building following security checks. The precautionary measures were necessary because the event commemorated the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October 2023. Several public figures and politicians were among those who came to remember the victims and the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, including US Ambassador David Pressman, Minister of Justice Bence Tuzson, Sándor Németh, head of the Faith Church and Gábor Iványi, pastor of the Hungarian Evangelical Brotherhood church.

The commemoration, organised by the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities United (Mazsihisz), the Embassy of Israel and the MERKAZ Israeli Cultural Institute, opened with the singing of the Hungarian and Israeli national anthems. Then a candle was lit and a minute of silence was observed in memory of the civilian and military victims and hostages.

"We cry together, we remember together, we seek hope together", Mazsihisz president Andor Grósz, who was the first to speak, said. He stressed that this commemoration should not be primarily about finding an answer to the cause of the terrible act of terror, because that alone does not bring consolation. Just as the destruction of the perpetrators of the atrocities, or the elimination of the organisations that support these atrocities cannot be a consolation either, Grósz explained. He argued that the fact that Israel has to face multiple enemies in its neighbourhood forces the country, home to 10 million people to fight for its life again and again.

Hungarian Justice Minister Bence Tuzson devoted a considerable part of his speech which lasted around ten minutes, to stressing that the Hungarian government attaches the utmost importance to the protection of Jewish communities.

"The Jewish community is a delicate community. And this community needs protection. It is the duty of every state to protect these communities."

– Tuzson said. He spoke little about the events that took place a year ago, beyond the fact that innocent people were murdered and kidnapped, and was quick to point out that Hungary was one of the first countries to condemn the terrorist attack. On behalf of the Hungarian government, he repeatedly pledged to protect Jewish communities. He also repeatedly emphasized the government's zero tolerance of anti-Semitism and said that, unlike in Hungary, this was not the case in all European countries. For this reason, the message of zero tolerance must be conveyed everywhere, and the government has made this a priority during its EU Presidency. Tuzson concluded his remarks praising his own government by saying that he is pleased that Hungary is one of the safest countries in the world for Jewish communities.

The last speech was delivered by Yacov Hadas-Handelsman, Ambassador of the State of Israel to Hungary. Speaking on behalf of Israel, the country mourning the most, his speech was no less political than that of Bence Tuzson. Handelsman said that the division in our world is not only political, but also about religion and culture. The attack on Israel was only the beginning, he said, adding that the real stakes were the defense of Western values, and said that not even all the countries of the Western world are sufficiently supportive of Israel. "Even countries that have always stood by Israel since its founding are witnessing a rise in anti-Semitism," the ambassador said.

Like Tuzson, he also said that the Hungarian government is indeed committed to protecting Jewish communities in the country and that Israel and Hungary share common values.

A video message from Almog Holot, a survivor of the terrorist attacks, was then played. Holot, 45, lived in kibbutz Nirime, where he spent 12 hours in hiding during the Hamas terrorists' rampage, and in the video he also described how they were evacuated from the area. He recalled the events of October 7th with great pain and said that he could never move back to his former home and added that the area was still unsafe.

Holot called on everyone to be loyal to Israel, arguing that what is happening is not a battle between Arabs and Israelis, but a battle between darkness and light. In the video, he also said that he finds it unbelievable that women's organizations have kept silent about what happened, despite the fact that there is footage of the atrocities the terrorists committed against women.

Much of what was said in the speeches is practically still part of the present time. The object of the commemoration is so recent that it is perhaps no wonder that a lot of what was said was much more permeated by politics than by a poignant remembrance of the past. The event concluded with Jewish prayers, and at the end, Róbert Fröhlich, Chief Rabbi of the Dohány Street Synagogue, called on everyone to recite the Kaddish, one of the oldest prayers of Judaism. The crowd then made its way to Tivadar Herzl Park in front of the synagogue, where the names and ages of the victims murdered a year ago were read out and candles were lit in their memory. Most of them were young, and hundreds of the hostages are still awaiting their release.