Page 20 - October 7 - Teresa Pirola

at any time and by anyone’ (Nostra Aetate, 4). Other churches took similar corrective steps as they faced into these dark chapters of Christian history.
In recent years, many Christians have joined with Jewish communities around the world in their annual remembrance of the events of Kristallnacht, on 9 November. The victims are mourned, candles are lit, songs are sung, people stand in sombre silence. Jewish leaders are joined by civic leaders and representatives of other religious and ethnic groups. The words ‘Never Again’ are uttered as one voice.
Shockingly, just a month ago, an event reminiscent of Kristallnacht occurred again.
October 7, 2023, Israel
On October 7, 2023, a pogrom took place in southern Israel, including the town of Sderot and the small agricultural communities (kibbutzim) bordering the Gaza strip. Hamas militants broke through the Israeli security barrier and rampaged throughout the day, pillaging and destroying homes while they murdered, tortured and raped unarmed civilians, and mutilated bodies. Over 200 people were abducted and taken to Gaza as hostages. Some 1200 Israelis—Jews and others among their communities—were murdered in these attacks, including whole families burnt to death in their homes and youth gunned down in the fields of a music festival.
It is important to recount these two dates, as well as some of the details of these two periods of depravity, in order to call out the evil of antisemitism for what it is, where it leads, and to highlight the imperative for Catholics, and all people of faith and goodwill, to speak out against its violent goals and deathly consequences.
We need to be very clear. Nothing justifies what occurred
20