Several events took place throughout Beverly Hills and nearby areas on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel. At sunrise, a group of about 50 people including Beverly Hills and Los Angeles politicians commemorated the anniversary at Beverly Gardens Park, in the section temporarily renamed “October 7th Memorial Square.” It is covered with 1,400 flags, representing one person killed during the attacks. In the evening, the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles held a memorial event at the Saban Theatre.
At sunrise, the first speaker was Rabbi Jonathan Aaron, the Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel Beverly Hills. Holding a shofar, he stated that it would be blown at the same time that the attacks began. “As we stand here with this darkness today, we are reminded of this time in Israel one year ago when people were sleeping in their beds…”
All photos by Sean Beckner-Carmitchel
Rabbi Yossi Cunin of Chabad Beverly Hills offered a prayer for the hostages, saying that “over the last few weeks we’ve seen the resolve of our people and Israel.”
In his remarks, Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman said he was invited to visit Israel in June, where he witnessed some of the areas that had been attacked. Beverly Hills Vice Mayor Sharona Nazarian demanded the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas last year. She noted that Iran uses “their own people as human shields,” adding, “We mourn for those innocent lives as well.”
Israel Bachar, Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Southwest, told the Courier at the event that since Oct. 7, the Jewish community had become “active, emotional, committed, and want to help the Israeli people as much as they can.” He also said that Rabbis told him in the wake of the attacks that local Jewish people had become more connected to their Jewish faith.
Additional commemorative events took place at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel and at a local school in Beverly Hills (see companion stories in this issue). Later in the day, demonstrations took place at UCLA. Several hundred people attended pro-Palestinian as well as pro-Israel marches across campus. Except for minor heckling, the demonstrations were peaceful.
On the evening of Oct. 7, the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills hosted “LA Remembers,” a commemoration of the attacks. The heavily attended event was organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Israeli-American Council, StandWithUs and Temple of the Arts. Many of those who spoke were prominent Los Angeles County politicians, Jewish leaders and people directly affected by the Oct. 7 attacks.
Among those in attendance were actress/neuroscientist Mayim Bialik, and more than 30 elected officials, including Senator Alex Padilla and Congressman Brad Sherman (CA-32).
Candles filled the Saban Theatre stage, and many of those who spoke conveyed ongoing feelings of grief for the hostages taken last year.
Eitan Gonen, whose daughter Romi remains a hostage after being taken at the Nova Music Festival, told the crowd that he’d spoken to his daughter during the attacks. He said the phone call began with his daughter saying, “Dad, I’m at a festival, there is a missile attack, and I’ve been shot.” Crying at times, he also said that he relives the moment in his daily life. Eitan wore a T-shirt with his daughter’s face. “I want to simply hug my daughter. I don’t want to look at her picture anymore,” he said.
