Israel establishes committee honoring Jewish diaspora victims of antisemitic attacks

Israel is no stranger to terrorism, both before and after the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel's Gaza border communities. However, for the first time in its history, the Israeli government has created a special joint committee to commemorate Jewish diaspora victims of antisemitic attacks outside of Israel.

Israel announced that the committee is being implemented based on Resolution No. 492 from May 2023, which stated its “recognition of the need and moral obligation to commemorate the Diaspora Jews who are not citizens of Israel.”

Israeli lawmaker Oded Forer, from the conservative Yisrael Beytenu opposition party, emphasized that diaspora Jews are integral to the Jewish state.

“The Jews who were murdered in the Diaspora are an inseparable part of the national memory and communion,” Forer stated. “The recognition of Jews who were murdered overseas as victims of hostile acts creates a deep connection of Diaspora Jewry to the nation-state.”

Approximately 155 non-Israeli Jews have been murdered in antisemitic attacks overseas during the period between 1958 and 2024, according to statistics provided by the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization (WZO). This number includes nine diaspora Jews who were murdered in attacks worldwide following the Hamas Oct. 7 terror attack.

The new committee will be headed by the WZO chairman, Yaakov Hagoel, and Diaspora Ministry Dir.-Gen. Avi Cohen-Scali. The criteria for victims of antisemitic attacks states that an incident constitutes a “hostile act injury” that has been perpetrated by an “organization or person that is hostile to the Jewish people” where the intent “was to harm the Jewish people or a Jew for being Jewish.”

Hagoel disclosed that the idea for the committee originated after the murder of two Jews on the Tunisian island of Djerba.

“We are one nation, and the state of the Jews is not just the state of those who live in it,” he said. “The committee is doing historical justice that strengthens the unbreakable bond between all parts of the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” Hagoel continued.

While the epicenter of current antisemitism is the Iranian-led terror axis in the Middle East, the senior official recognized that post-Oct. 7 antisemitism has exploded worldwide.

“We are all witnesses to the severe wave of antisemitism that plagues Diaspora Jewry, especially since the beginning of the ‘Iron Swords’ war,” Hagoel assessed. “The decision to commemorate the Jews in the Diaspora who were murdered on antisemitic grounds strengthens the mutual guarantee and shared destiny between the State of Israel and the Jewish people, in all its Diasporas.”

While the majority of the 1,200 murder victims from the Hamas attack were Israelis, a significant number were dual citizens with countries, such as the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Russia.

In April, the United States, along with 17 other nations, issued a joint demand for Hamas to release all remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

“We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, now for over 200 days. These include our citizens,” the world leaders declared in a joint statement at that time.

The involved countries are Great Britain, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Argentina, Austria, France, Poland, Colombia, Hungary, Thailand, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia.