Page 3 - October 7 - Teresa Pirola

Foreword
On 7 October 2023, a brutal massacre took place in southern Israel. On that day, Israel experienced its worst terror attack in the history of the modern state. It was the largest mass murder of Jewish people within the space of a day since the end of the Holocaust. Over 1200 Israelis were slaughtered, many more were wounded, and some 250 innocent people—men, women and children—were taken hostage.
For the Jewish community the world over, these events were both shockingly unexpected, and yet horrifyingly familiar. In a single day, the trauma of past atrocities was experienced anew, in a present-day pogrom of unspeakable brutality.
This book is a collection of writings by the author over the ten months that followed October 7. Its underlying message is that voices within the Catholic Church could have expressed more by way of public support and assistance to Jewish communities in Australia.
These writings reflect Teresa Pirola’s experience as a Catholic writer and faith educator as she grappled with her Church’s reaction, sought to take responsibility for her own response to October 7, and observed the highly visible rise in antisemitism that was unfolding in her home country of Australia.
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