Nearly 500 people gathered in Geneva late Sunday to demand the release of the 101 hostages still held by Hamas since the deadly attack on October 7. Several speakers also denounced the rise in anti-Semitism that followed.
Geneva – Tribute to the victims of October 7 at the Place des Nations
Nearly 200 people gathered on Sunday evening at the Place des Nations in Geneva to pay tribute to the victims of the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
06.10.2024
“I never thought I would still be here, a year later,” said Nurit Braun, on behalf of Collectif 7 – Suisse. Photographs of the 101 hostages still in Gaza and those of some 370 young people killed at the Nova music festival were displayed in the center of the Place des Nations. “Two children are detained by Hamas,” noted Ms. Braun, recalling that these attacks were perpetrated in “left-wing populations, for peace.”
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But “the worst massacre of Jews since the Shoah” only provoked a “timid reaction from the West,” denounced Gregory Lafitte, co-founder of the Forum for Cultural Diplomacy. Since then, Jews have faced hate speech and violence, said Roseline Cisier, president of the Jewish Community of Geneva, calling for anti-Semitism to be combated.
Call for peace
“What struck me this year is this unilateral compassion,” underlined the former French ambassador François Zimeray, specifying that he had “compassion also for the collateral victims of this tragedy” because “an innocent person is a innocent”. If he believes “that we must question Israel’s response to this day”, he criticized “the silence even before the Israeli response”.
Expressing concern about the rise of extremist politico-religious currents in Israel, Genevan Daniel Halpérin launched an appeal for peace: “War undermines the foundations of justice and democracy,” he noted. According to him, we must “have the courage to reach out to the enemy”, at the cost of significant questioning. “Otherwise, what will happen to Israel?” he said.
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