BEVERLY HILLS (CNS) – Beverly Hills elected and community leaders gathered early Monday to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, holding a solemn memorial at a park that has roughly 1,200 flags on display — one for each person who died in the attack.
“Beverly Hills is much more than what some may perceive as glitz, glamour and luxury,” Beverly Hills Vice Mayor Sharona R. Nazarian said during the pre-dawn ceremony at Beverly Gardens Park on Santa Monica Boulevard. “Our community stands in solidarity and we will not allow terror or hate to manipulate us.”
The hundreds of flags have been on display in the park since January. During Monday’s memorial service, the city unveiled signs designating the area “October 7th Memorial Square.”
The early morning event was one of several events planned Monday across the area to mark the anniversary of the attacks.
The Jewish Federation Los Angeles will host a program at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills Monday evening, billed as a way to “remember victims and honor the resilience of survivors.”
Organized by the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, Israeli-American Council, StandWithUs and Temple of the Arts, doors open at 6:30 p.m. Monday for “L.A. Remembers.” Among those expected to attend are actress Mayim Bialik, Israeli actress Moran Atias, Israeli performer Raviv Kaner, as well as more than 30 elected officials including Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
There will also be a candle-lighting ceremony and speeches from relatives of hostages.
The event will be livestreamed at https://form.jotform.com/JFedLAForms/LARemembers-waitlist.
“Coming together to commemorate October 7th offers all of us an opportunity to gather strength as we share a sense of community that supports Israel and fights to keep the faces of the hostages front and center in everyone’s hearts until they all come home to their families,” Roz Rothstein, founder and CEO of StandWithUs, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, IfNotNow Los Angeles will gather at downtown’s Gloria Molina Grand Park, which they say will be attended by “hundreds of American Jews” to honor the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks, and the ensuing “brutal collective punishment by the Israeli government” over the past year. The event slated for 6 p.m. is intended to “remind elected officials and fellow Americans that violence is antithetical to Jewish values and that it will never keep any of us safe.”
On Sunday, the Jewish Federation Los Angeles held a reception and candle-lighting ceremony at the Museum of Tolerance Los Angeles.
“It was not the last chapter of my life,” Andrey Kozlov, who was held hostage for eight months and a day, said at the event that coincided with the exact moment of the Oct. 7 attacks.
“Something better is coming, and here I am with lots of opportunities. I became some kind of voice of hostages, and I am able to speak.”
Mayor Karen Bass said, “Today, we must continue our prayers for safety and peace. As conflict rises in the Middle East, we often see a troubling rise in antisemitism around the world, including here in L.A. So let me be unequivocally clear — antisemitism has absolutely no place in L.A.”
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