Israel has no alternative... it has to defend itself - by CLAUDIA MENDOZA, the CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council

October 7, 2023 is a day that will be forever seared into the collective memory of the Jewish people. Six months on, the date has lost none of its sorrow and trauma.

The death toll from the attack reached 1,200, while 253 Israelis were taken hostage. 

Since then, the casualty list has lengthened, but mostly on the Palestinian side, be they innocent civilians or Hamas fighters.

Yet the world must never forget that this catastrophe began with the worst pogrom inflicted on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. 

October 7, 2023 is a day that will be forever seared into the collective memory of the Jewish people. Pictured: An Israeli flag hanging on a building near a poster of a woman kidnapped in the October 7 attack

Not an isolated act of terrorism, but the latest, most barbarous episode in a long campaign against the very existence of the state of Israel.

Faced with this existential threat, the Jewish homeland has had no alternative but to defend itself. 

Survival requires the destruction of Hamas so that it will never indulge in the almost drug-crazed butchery exhibited six months ago.

But 'war is hell', as William Sherman, the US Civil War general, once remarked. Tragic errors are inevitable, such as when Israeli missiles hit an aid convoy, killing seven workers. 

Having admitted to the disastrous mistake, the Israeli government has launched a full investigation and already sacked two officers.

The outrage over this terrible event has led to demands that Israel cease fighting in Gaza.

Faced with this existential threat, the Jewish homeland has had no alternative but to defend itself. Pictured: A member of the public looks on at photographs of hostages kidnapped on October 7 in Israel

Meanwhile, the grotesque charge of 'genocide' is spat, as calls grow louder for Britain to suspend its export of arms to Israel.

A thick layer of hypocrisy hangs over this condemnation. Western militaries have made fatal errors of judgment, too. In 2008, US forces bombed a wedding in Afghanistan with the loss of 37 lives; the attack on a Serbian media centre in 1999 killed 16. 

Such incidents never provoked the same indignation as last week's tragedy. The only explanation is the unique anti-Semitic loathing for Israel, stemming from an ancient hatred reborn in Britain under an ugly alliance of militant Islamism and the radical Left.

It is a bitter irony that October 7 has resulted in a huge spike in anti-Jewish racism. It has left British Jews not only fearful for their safety but also questioning their future here. Yet through this adversity, I have never seen the community so united.