Nearly 1,000 attendees gathered in Hogg Memorial Auditorium on Monday for the “Together We Stand” ceremony, which organizers said was the city’s largest Oct. 7 anniversary memorial.
The event — organized by multiple Jewish organizations including Longhorn Students for Israel, Texas Chabad, Texas Hillel and Texas Olami — included prayers and speeches from Jewish students and community leaders. Student organizers also displayed the names of every known Jewish victim of the Hamas attack that took place in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Logan Spector, co-president of Longhorn Students for Israel, said the organization and its partners planned the event to give the Oct. 7 victims “a memorial and a name.”
“We thought of the Holocaust as a distant history and began to believe the Jewish people, if for just a brief moment in history, were finally living in a world where we were safe,” Spector said. “A year ago today that sense of safety was shattered.”
In a pre-recorded video broadcast at the memorial, Gov. Greg Abbott affirmed his support for the state of Israel and Jewish Texans. Last spring, Abbott signed an executive order calling for state universities to update their free speech policies and punish violators to address antisemitism on campus.
“On this solemn anniversary, know that we love our Jewish brothers and sisters and we will do all we can to eliminate antisemitism here in Texas and fight for the future of your homeland,” Abbott said in the video.
UT President Jay Hartzell said the University recognizes students’ pain and sadness during the anniversary, in a letter sent to Longhorns for Israel and shared at the event.
“Our state and our University have worked tirelessly to ensure a safe and welcoming campus for all — for Jewish, for Muslim, for all students — a place where learning and research are prioritized and the difference is understood and embraced,” Hartzell said in the letter.
Ya’ara Hames-Ezra, an Israeli exchange student involved in Texas Hillel, said Oct. 7 last year “felt like a nightmare.” She recalled her experience serving on reserve duty for the Israel Defense Forces and advocating for the release of hostages following the attack.
“Oct. 7 was the worst day of my life, and I’m sure there are a lot of people here, and everywhere, who feel the same way,” Hames-Ezra said.
Jason Diebner, Olami Texas representative, said the reaction on campus following Oct. 7 shocked him.
“The initial sympathy I thought I’d felt from classmates quickly dissolved,” Diebner said.
Pro-Palestine student organizations held demonstrations on campus over the course of the fall 2023 semester, including a walk out protest and multiple vigils. The events criticized the Israeli government’s response to Oct. 7, called for an end to war in Gaza and urged University divestment from weapons manufacturers.
Feeling compelled to “stand up for his identity” as a Jewish student and Zionist, Diebner attended one protest wrapped in an Israeli flag. There, he said he was shoved and cursed at.
“I was there to express my pride and love for Israel even as the others around me seemed to rationalize the horrific events of Oct. 7 and the tragic loss of 1,200 innocent lives,” Diebner said.
Shira Alatin, a Texas Chabad representative, was in Israel on a gap year during the attack last October, and said she left with an “irreversible bond to the country.” Alatin said Jewish students in the U.S. have a duty to “fight the fight from (the States)” by defending Israel and sharing victims’ stories.
“I’m lucky to have been able to experience the strength of Israel (and) the strength of a community that came together and stood so strong against those who want us all gone,” Alatin said.
