The Brighton and Hove Jewish community in England commemorated the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre with a special service, despite their memorial to the victims of the Hamas attack being destroyed.
On Rosh Hashanah last week, a video circulated showing a man destroying the Brighton Memorial to those murdered on October 7 before being chased away by a passerby. The man was filmed picking up items left by the Jewish community and throwing or breaking them.
A memorial in #Brighton honoring the victims murdered on October 7, 2023, in Israel by Hamas has been completely destroyed by this man. Vandalism at its worst—disrespecting the memory of the innocent lives lost.@CrimeLdn #Israel pic.twitter.com/FTbPlbTHPl
— Sussex News - Breaking news for Sussex (@SussexIncidents) October 6, 2024
The memorial, which was erected 11 months ago, has been attacked over 20 times, according to the organizer of the event.
Sussex Police said they were aware of the video and were investigating it as a hate crime.
Despite the incident, the Jewish community gathered at the memorial to read the names of the victims, and hostage families in the area gave speeches. The community also put up a large poster featuring all the names and performed songs and prayers.
The organizer, Brighton local Adam Ma’anit, spoke of his cousin, Tsachi, who is currently being held hostage in Gaza. Tsachi’s family does not know whether he is alive or dead.
“Every day is October 7 for us and Tsachi’s family," Ma'anit said. "We need the world to demand their release unconditionally. This is a humanitarian issue, not a political one.”
He also mourned the murder of Ma’ayan, Tsachi’s daughter, on the same day. Ma’ayan, 18, was shot in the head by Hamas.
According to Ma’anit in a speech at the Manchester rally on October 6, the terrorists also forced Tsachi’s wife, Gali, to livestream the horror onto her Facebook, which is how Ma’anit and other family members learned of the situation.
Hamas live streamed their torture of the family through Ma’ayan’s mother Gali’s Facebook. That was how most of the rest of the family knew what had happened to them. Hamas are monstrous. pic.twitter.com/zdjSaQuC1w
— Heidi Bachram ️ (@HeidiBachram) October 7, 2024
Ma’anit also spoke of the security concerns for an event such as this one, which drew large crowds, and of the “ferocious” attack on the memorial.
However, he iterated that the community would “not be cowed and will not be driven from the public square.”
The Brighton and Hove Jewish community has personal connections to the horrors of October 7. The great aunt of Shay Levinson, who was murdered on October 7 and whose body is being held captive in Gaza, lives in Brighton.
Relatives of Ilan Weiss, who was murdered on his Kibbutz and whose body is also being held, likewise live in the area. Ilan’s wife, Shiri, and daughter, Noga, were taken hostage and released in November 2023.