Statement from Senator Liz Krueger On The Anniversary Of The October 7th Attack

Today we mark one year since the terrorist organization Hamas launched a horrific attack against civilians in Israel. On that day I, like so many around the world, watched with horror, feeling helpless, heartbroken, and angry. I continue to mourn for the nearly 1,200 people who were brutally killed that day and those who have died after being taken hostage, from the very young to the very old, and I continue to hold in the front of my mind the 100 people who remain hostages.

In the year since those events, we have seen violence beget violence, as a predictable spiral of tragedy has engulfed Israelis, Palestinians, and now the people of Lebanon, who are themselves the victims of Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists. I mourn for the civilians who have been killed in all of this territory, thousands of whom were children. After this terrible year, I remember the words of Jon Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a hostage who was recently murdered after 11 months in captivity, that “there is a surplus of agony on all sides,” and that, “in a competition of pain, there are no winners.”

Faced with this continually unfolding human tragedy, I strive to take the side of humanity, and uphold the Jewish value of b’tzelem Elohim, that every human being is created in the image of God. In the spirit of these Days of Awe, the holy time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I hope and pray that all people might be able to move toward forgiveness and work in the year ahead to build a world that upholds our highest values of peace and justice. To hold such hopes in the face of unimaginable violence, destruction, and death may seem unrealistic or naïve. But working for peace is never unrealistic – just the opposite, it is the only rational path forward. Rather, it is the belief that endless cycles of violence can ever end in peace that is hopelessly naïve.

I continue to demand that Hamas release all the remaining hostages immediately; I continue to join with the families of the remaining hostages in calling on the Israeli government to do everything in its power to ensure their safe return and to end this war, which will only be achieved through active negotiations; and I continue to urge all parties in the conflict, including the United States government, to take meaningful action to secure a ceasefire agreement, for the sake of the rights, safety, and long-term security of Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, and all people across the region who have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of this perpetual violence.