Trump and Harris mark somber anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel

October 7th, 2024

President Joe Biden, center, standing with first lady Jill Biden, left, and Rabbi Aaron Alexander of the Adas Israel Congregation, lights a memorial candle in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, to mark the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that left about 1,200 people dead. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are marking the first anniversary of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust as the presidential candidates approach the final weeks of the campaign during a widening conflict in the Middle East.

Political leaders across the spectrum were marking the killing of about 1,200 people, including 46 U.S. citizens, by Hamas-led militants in the Oct. 7 attack last year, and the taking of about 250 hostages. A year later, about 100 people, including several Americans, remain in captivity, as U.S.-led efforts to negotiate a cease-fire and hostage release deal have sputtered out.

Trump will visit the New York City gravesite of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who led the Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Orthodox Judaism from 1951 until his death in 1994. Schneerson was the movement’s seventh leader, known as Lubavitcher Rebbe. Trump then will speak before Jewish community leaders at one of his Florida resorts in the Miami suburb of Doral.