In the Philly area, Oct. 7 Hamas attack anniversary sparks vigils for the dead and enduring rage over war

The one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel brought grief for the dead and rage against the ongoing war in Gaza, as hundreds participated in vigils and protests throughout the Philadelphia region.

Commemorations began over the weekend, with Jewish demonstrators calling for an arms embargo on the banks of the Schuylkill, and carried into Monday afternoon, when hundreds of pro-Palestinian student activists marched toward a University of Pennsylvania building where a handful of demonstrators ultimately clashed with police. Four people were arrested for disorderly conduct, police said.

On both sides of the conflict, the pain remained as palpable as it was in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping another 250. Israel’s retaliatory bombing campaign and ground invasion have since killed 42,000 people, displaced about 2 million, and reduced most of Gaza, a blockaded coastal strip roughly the size of Philadelphia, to rubble.

Speaking in Old City on Monday, Gov. Josh Shapiro urged the public not to forget the attack that led to Israel’s siege.

“Today is a day to honor those memories of the 1,200 who were killed,” the governor said. “Today is also a day to try to find some light in the midst of this darkness.”

Mirroring his appearance at a rally last year, Shapiro, the third Jewish governor in commonwealth history and a staunch Israel ally, observed Monday’s somber milestone alongside the Jewish community in his home region. He and other officials unveiled an exhibit at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History that documents the Nova Music Festival massacre.

“We can’t lose sight of the fact that innocent people were gunned down simply because they were at a concert in Israel,” the governor said.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia planned to hold an online vigil Monday evening, followed by an in-person event later in the month. Other Israel supporters held rallies over the weekend to draw attention to the estimated 100 hostages who remain missing.

Overseas, the outlook at the one-year milestone appears grim. Cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas have stalled for months, with diplomats now bracing for a regional war involving Iran and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an escalation that threatens to complicate peace talks.

Meanwhile, in the Philadelphia region, visceral disagreements over the war continue.

Penn and Drexel University warned students that Monday’s anniversary could bring protests, and by midafternoon, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators were marching through the neighboring campuses.

The anniversary followed a year of fevered demonstrations, student encampments, and building occupations at universities and colleges throughout the region.

Amid tapping drums and steady chants, demonstrators on Monday announced the formation of a citywide Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, with members from Drexel and Penn, as well as suburban campuses like Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr.

“We’re bound together by an unwavering commitment to the liberation of Palestine” said Ragad, a third-year Swarthmore student who declined to give their last name for fear of retaliation.

Ragad and other speakers turned to defending Hamas — a feature at some protests that has drawn widespread rebuke.

One chant heard Monday professed support for the al-Qassam Brigades, a Hamas military wing. Ben Lea, a Jewish third-year student at Drexel University, had just left a computer science class when he saw the brigade of protesters march down Market Street.

“For most Jews, this is a day of memorial,” he said. “And then you come out of class and see people chanting and waving flags in the name of terrorism.”

Rishi Arun, a Temple University student who said he was suspended for a semester due to his involvement with campus protests, defended the chants as justified.

“People in the West only support Palestinian people when they are perfect victims,” Arun said. “But when they fight the people who are committing a genocide against them, they’re seen in an evil light.”

Arun noted that a 16-year-old in Gaza had already lived through the equivalent of four wars before Oct. 7, as well as long-term food shortages. Over 64% of Gaza’s population was classified as being “moderately or severely food insecure” in 2022, according to the United Nations, driven in part by restrictions on food imports and the use of electricity and running water.

The majority of Monday’s protest, however, focused on university leaders who demonstrators say have unfairly targeted pro-Palestinian students and failed to uphold an impartial political environment on campus.

One speech called out Penn and Drexel for “aiding and abetting Israel in their war crimes.” The march bounded across the Schuylkill and ended at the Pennovation Center, a Penn-run incubator that houses Ghost Robotics, a robotic dog manufacturer that protesters alleged the Israeli military uses.

As the crowd dwindled down to a few dozen and the rally appeared to be dispersing without incident, one demonstrator lit a cardboard protest sign on fire. An officer who observed the act snatched the sign, and a skirmish broke out between police and the remaining group.

“We didn’t expect this many people to show up,” Arun said, of the crowd turnout Monday. “There’s always concerns about student movements getting crushed by disciplinary action. But today showed me that we’re not scared.”

In Bala Cynwyd, the anniversary took a political turn, as the Pennsylvania arm of former President Donald Trump’s campaign gathered Jewish advocates to drive home one of the Republican’s favorite foreign policy talking points: that Trump is best for Israel.

“There is a strong contrast between the leadership, the strength, the peace, and the prosperity that President Trump brought, not only to America, but to our allies in the Middle East including Israel,” said Jeff Bartos, a Republican fundraiser and former candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

Speakers praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war effort, bashed Vice President Kamala Harris, and condemned pro-Palestinian advocacy on Philadelphia’s campuses.

Yehuda Sichel, a Philadelphia restaurateur who owns the Center City restaurant Huda and said he was an independent, recalled the weeks after Oct. 7 last year, when the name of his restaurant appeared on a list of Jewish-owned businesses to boycott that circulated on social media.

“It still feels like we’re fending for ourselves,” Sichel said. “I just hope that whoever becomes president will support the Jews in Israel, understanding that this is the war for our existence.’

At the Fairmount Water Works Monday evening, more than 100 people dressed in white held a vigil for all the lives lost since Oct. 7, the second of three events spread across as many days calling for an end to the war.

Hosted by the group IfNotNow in collaboration with Prayers for Peace Alliance, a coalition of Jewish people and Palestinians demanding an end to the conflict, the evening was scheduled to be full of song and somber remembrances.

”We have to reject extremism and we have to tell the world that we are here for peace and compromise, but we have to have it with justice,” said Sam Kuttab, founder of Prayers for Peace Alliance. “We can’t be just cursing at people and yelling at them. All that takes away from the true message: the occupation is illegal, it’s oppressive.”