JNS
Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to plant a tree in honor of the victims at the vice presidential residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden crossed himself "briefly" after lighting a yahrzeit candle around noon, on the one-year anniversary of Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack, to memorialize the victims, per the White House pool report.
Crossing oneself is not considered a part of the Jewish memorial service for the dead, nor are non-Jews called upon to light yahrzeit candles. Biden, who is Catholic, reportedly attends Mass frequently.
Biden lit the candle alongside Jill Biden, the first lady, and Rabbi Aaron Alexander, of Adas Israel Congregation, a Conservative synagogue in Washington, according to the pool report. Neither the president nor the first lady spoke during the event, during which Alexander recited the El Malei Rachamim ("God full of mercy") memorial prayer for the dead, per the pool.
The rabbi offered prayers for “the souls of the holy ones, men, women and children who were killed on Oct. 7," according to the pool. "For this we pray for the ascent of their souls, may they rest in the Garden of Eden," he added. "May their souls be bound up in the bond of everlasting life."
"There was silence in the room and no questions, a reflection of the solemnity of the moment," the pool stated.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, who is Jewish, plan to plant a "memorial tree" at the vice president's residence to "honor the victims," per the White House. The two will deliver remarks in the afternoon that the White House will livestream, the White House added.
Emhoff also attended an American Jewish Committee memorial service in the morning, which will be live-streamed and open to the press, the White House said.
War on 'our shared values'
Former President Donald Trump, the current Republican presidential nominee, plans to participate in an Oct. 7 remembrance event on Monday evening in Miami.
"Jewish community leaders will gather to honor the 1,200 lives lost after being taken hostage and killed on that fateful morning one year ago," the Trump campaign stated. "The event will also remember the victims of antisemitic violence that has continued to afflict communities worldwide since that tragic day."
The campaign added that Oct. 7 "was the day in which the most Jewish people were murdered since the Holocaust."
"Hamas and other Iranian-backed proxies launched a war, not just against Israel, but against all of our shared values. What we have witnessed in the past year is a battle between the forces of good versus evil," per the campaign. "Since the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, we have witnessed nothing but global chaos, as evidenced by Iran’s horrific missile attack on Israel just this past week."
Trump referred to Biden's and Harris's policies as "inept and failed," saying they "enabled the Iranian-backed proxies that have sewn a path of death and destruction, resulting in catastrophic global ramifications."
He added that by choosing not to be present at the July 24 joint session of Congress when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke, Harris "blatantly displayed her lack of competence in international diplomacy, showing that she does not stand with our strongest ally in the Middle East, the State of Israel. Since taking office, the Harris-Biden administration has enriched Iran, enabled the enemies of the United States and compromised the security of our country."
