Israelis, Palestinians, Jews and other New Yorkers gather on Monday, October 7, 2024 at Union Square Park to participate in a candleight vigil organized by Israelis For Peace NYC. (Credit: Nichole Whiteley)
On October 7, 2024, the one year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, peace activists came together in Union Square for a candlelight vigil to honor all lives lost and call for a ceasefire and hostage release.
The vigil was unique on a day when pro-Palestine and pro-Israel factions took to the streets separately in mourning and angry defiance amid an escalating war and Israel’s latest attacks on Lebanon.
Amira Musallam, a Palestinian-American peace activist from Bethlehem in the West Bank, told the crowd of around 400 people at Union Square, “We cannot speak of one community’s pain without honoring the pain of the other.”
Tears stream down the faces of Israelis, Palestinians, Jews and other New Yorkers as they gather on Monday, October 7, 2024 at Union Square Park to participate in a candlelight vigil organized by Israelis For Peace NYC. (Credit: Nichole Whiteley)
This was the first peace vigil for Yehuda, a young Jewish man from Brooklyn. He asked that his last name not be used for his safety. He explained that growing up, Jews and Israelis are taught to hate Palestinians, and Palestinians are taught to hate Jews and Israelis. He said he came to this vigil because, “I feel so powerless, and I believe in the power of community. Even if I can’t make any change, I believe that coming together as one; you are more powerful together than you are alone.”
Noa Fort is Israeli and a co-organizer for Israelis For Peace NYC. The group started in November of 2023 and has held weekly protests since. When they first started, it was somewhat of a radical perspective for Israelis to call for a ceasefire, she explained. Israelis saw it as a call for the annihilation of Israel and a surrender to Hamas terror. Yet the community members who attend the vigils have grown from about 200 people at the first vigil to around double the number of people at the vigil on October 7. Fort said a ceasefire is a first necessary step to releasing hostages and creating peace.
Israelis, Palestinians, Jews and other New Yorkers gather on Monday, October 7, 2024 at Union Square Park to participate in a candleight vigil organized by Israelis For Peace NYC. (Credit: Nichole Whiteley)
She asked people not to bring signs or flags to the vigil because she said they create division.
“We felt that in order to create a space that is really allowing both people to mourn both the pain of Israelis and Palestinians, having no flags will probably be the more, like the most accepting, way to do it, the most open way where people can really feel ‘okay, I’m not affiliated with this or that. I’m here for humanity,’” she said.
Judy Cuttler brought a sign, anyway. It read “No U.S. Troops to the Middle East,” to emphasize that violence will not end the war, only a ceasefire. She wanted onlookers to understand the demands of the group.
“The only people who have the power to change society are masses of people,” which is what was happening Monday night, she said.
Israelis For Peace meets at Union Square Park by the Washington Statue every Sunday at 4 p.m. to protest, and they will continue — until the war is over. The group also organizes events and talks with peace activists from Israel and Palestine, Fort said.
During the opening and closing musical number, the speakers crackled. But when the single vocals faded out, the crowd became a chorus to fill the quiet, singing as one. As the last candles burned out, nearly every person in the crowd proudly joined to sing “Hallelujah,” swaying arm in arm. Tears streamed down faces and some were wiped away until they were wiped away. Embraces lasted long after the vigil ended.
“The tears of an Israeli mother and the tears of a Palestinian mother burn the same,” said Mussallam.
About the author(s)
Nichole Whiteley is a multimedia journalist
from Utah based in New York City and an M.S. student at Columbia
Journalism School. Her reporting focuses on local news and women's
rights.