Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb joins Jews in mourning Oct. 7, 2023, attack on anniversary

Hundreds of members of Indianapolis’ Jewish community gathered Monday night to mourn the nearly 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas gunmen Oct. 7, 2023, in the start of a deadly war that has since escalated across the Middle East.

Mourners packed into the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation’s synagogue on North Meridian Street, where Jewish leaders led prayers for the families of the dead and for more than 100 Israeli hostages still in Hamas captivity. Outside the sanctuary, posters showing the hostages were affixed to trees and surrounded with red flowers.

“Day after day, we’ve been glued to the news wishing for a normalcy we thought we had before,” speaker Offer Korin, a Jewish attorney, told the congregants. “And here we are, a year later, hoping for the return of the hostages in Gaza.”

At a time when Jewish Americans face increasing antisemitism, leaders said they were uplifted by the presence of politicians such as Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and attorney general candidate Destiny Wells, along with state lawmakers. The Anti-Defamation League has recorded more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the United States since the fall 2023 attack, a trend that coincides with a similar spike in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents.

Eli Isaacs, a leader of the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis, said many members of Central Indiana’s Jewish community have struggled to uphold their commitments to their neighbors while feeling increasingly on edge. Heavy security at Monday’s event, which didn’t attract protesters, made clear the constant tension, Isaacs said.

“It’s been difficult and frustrating because you have to wear all these different hats. You need to be doing what you can to support people on the ground in Israel, who are spending days on end in bomb shelters,” Isaacs said. “You are trying to get them resources and support that they need. You’re also trying to explain the conflict to people who might not understand here.”

Pro-Palestinian event: Hundreds march in downtown Indy as war nears one-year mark

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb speaks at synagogue

About 18,000 people in Marion and Hamilton counties identify as Jewish, a 2017 survey found, and the U.S. has the world’s second-largest Jewish population with about 5.7 million people. Israel, which became a nation in 1948 following the Holocaust, is home to nearly half of the world’s Jewish population, about 7.2 million Jews.

During a keynote address, Holcomb recalled how Ophir Lipstein, the mayor of an Israeli village called Sha’ar Hanegev, highlighted the two nations’ decades-long partnership by visiting Indiana in September of last year.

Weeks later, Lipstein was killed by Hamas gunmen in his home on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Our brother Ophir’s loss is a reminder of just how small this world is, and how connected each and every one of us is, whether we know it or not or like it or not,” Holcomb said, “of just how far-reaching events of the day can be, realizing some nightmares not even an ocean can divide.”

How Gaza war is escalating at one-year mark

The Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas invaded Israel, killing about 1,200 Israeli civilians and taking roughly 250 others hostage.

Hamas gunmen attacked army bases, Israeli communities and an all-night music festival where an estimated 360 attendees were killed, according to Israeli officials. A year after the surprise invasion, more than 1,700 Israelis have died and just over 100 are still held hostage.

The Israeli military retaliated the day after Oct. 7 with deadly air strikes bombarding the Gaza Strip and a ground invasion.

In the year of ensuing battles, Israel has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and displaced around 1.9 million people — nine in 10 Gaza residents have moved at least once, according to the United Nations. Amid war and severe food shortages, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have died and more than 96,000 have been wounded, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

1 year after Hamas invaded Israel: How far could Gaza war expand?

The war has spread outward from Gaza and intensified in recent weeks in Lebanon, on Israel’s northern border, where the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah operates. In the last weeks of September, Israeli forces killed top Hezbollah leaders and began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, where Lebanese officials say Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,400 Lebanese and displaced 1.2 million since late September.

Iran responded Oct. 1 by firing at least 180 ballistic missiles at sites across Israel. Israeli air defenses intercepted most of the missiles, which are reported to have killed only one Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank.

Email IndyStar reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09