NEW YORK – Three years after the Hamas-led October 7 massacre in Israel, World Jewish Congress President Amb. Ronald S. Lauder is warning that the consequences of that day continue to reverberate far beyond Israel.
In a statement marking the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks, Lauder remembered those murdered and the survivors who continue to live with the consequences.
“Three years after Hamas’s October 7 massacre against Israel, we remember those who were murdered and stand with the survivors and people of Israel who will forever carry with them the indelible scars of that day,” Lauder said.
His message, however, focused not only on remembrance, but on what happened around the world after October 7.
A Threat That Spread Beyond Israel
Lauder said that while the past year saw the hostages finally returned, both the living and the dead, and an end to rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, Jewish communities around the world continue to face threats exposed in the immediate aftermath of the massacre.
“This anniversary follows a year in which the hostages were finally brought home, the living and the dead, and no rockets from Gaza reached Israel,” he said. “Yet Jewish life around the world remains under the same threats that were laid bare on October 8, 2023.”
The reference to October 8 is significant.
Even before Israel’s military response in Gaza had fully unfolded, anti-Israel demonstrations and rhetoric began appearing internationally. Over the following three years, Jewish communities faced demonstrations, harassment, vandalism and increasingly hostile debates surrounding Israel and Zionism.
Lauder placed responsibility not only on extremists, but also on institutions and public figures he says helped legitimize accusations against Israel.
‘A Grotesque Inversion of Reality’
“Hamas carried out a genocidal massacre, yet Israel has been branded guilty of genocide in a grotesque inversion of reality,” Lauder said.
“Governments, media outlets, and public figures have amplified this false accusation, undermined Israel’s right to exist, and ignored the irreparable harm they have caused Jewish communities.”
Lauder said those institutions and individuals must now confront the consequences.
“They must now answer for their role in normalizing hatred and making Jewish life unsafe,” he said.
The accusation reflects a wider debate that has intensified since October 7 over where criticism of Israeli government policy ends and antisemitism or attempts to delegitimize Israel begin.
For Jewish communities around the world, that debate has not remained confined to politics.
It has reached university campuses, workplaces, cultural institutions, streets and public demonstrations, leaving many Jews confronting hostility directly connected to events thousands of kilometers away.
‘Defend the Truth’
Lauder called on governments to use the anniversary not only to remember those murdered on October 7, but to examine what followed.
“On this solemn anniversary, all nations must confront this failure, defend the truth, and commit to protecting Jewish life wherever it flourishes,” he said.
His final warning extended beyond Jewish communities.
“When Jewish communities are made unsafe, Western societies are endangered, and the very values on which democratic nations are founded are betrayed.”
Three years after October 7, the physical attack that began that morning is history.
The battle over its meaning, and the consequences for Jewish communities around the world, is not.
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