Israel begins to mark 3 years since October 7 Hamas onslaught with memorials, ceremony at Nova site
Commemorations to begin at 6:29 a.m.; main ceremony at 9:15 p.m. in Tel Aviv * Jewish NYC officials call for permanent Oct. 7 memorial in Brooklyn * Vance: Iran must cut enrichment to end war, but ‘not totally clear’ how it makes decisions
Israel marks 3 years since October 7 attack, with commemorations starting at 6:29 a.m.
Israelis begin to gather nationwide to mark three years since Hamas-led terrorists invaded the country on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 in the deadliest single day in Israel’s history.
Ceremonies commemorating the onslaught will begin at 6:29 a.m., the time when the attack began. At that hour, survivors and bereaved families will come together at Kibbutz Re’im, the site of the Nova music festival, where terrorists massacred 378 people and took 44 hostages to Gaza.
Ceremonies and memorial events will take place throughout the day in cities and towns across the country. Some municipalities will fly flags at half-staff.
At noon, the October Council, a group of the onslaught’s survivors and bereaved families, will hold a minute of silence nationwide.
The main ceremony organized by survivors and bereaved families will be held at 9:15 p.m. at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park, staged by the Kumu (“Rise Up”) organization.
Official state ceremonies commemorating the attack took place on Monday, the Hebrew memorial date established by the government.
Jewish communities worldwide will also hold memorial events.
Anti-Israel groups abroad have planned protests and rallies for today.
Houthis launch missiles at Yemen’s Aden airport as fighting intensifies
Two missiles launched by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis targeted the international airport of Yemen’s southern port city of Aden early this morning, but no casualties were reported, the media office of Aden’s security department says.
The attack comes amid renewed fighting after weeks of Houthi advances along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and a Saudi-backed government counteroffensive that has recaptured areas around the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait with coalition air support.
The airport is the main international gateway serving parts of Yemen outside Houthi control.
Earlier, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile launched towards the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, Saudi state television reports.
The coalition said the missile threats had originated from the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa and the governorates of Saada and Amran.
Following the coalition’s statement, Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV says Saudi forces carried out a strike in an area spanning the central governorates of Ibb and Taiz. There was no immediate confirmation from the Saudi-led coalition.
Vance: Iran must cut enrichment to end war, but ‘not totally clear’ how it makes decisions
US Vice President JD Vance tells Reuters that Iran must make a “meaningful” reduction in its nuclear enrichment capacity to satisfy US demands and end the countries’ seven-month war, even as he says Washington is unsure how Tehran makes decisions in negotiations.
In the interview, conducted on Monday after a campaign trip in Alaska, Vance says any agreement will require Iran to reduce its nuclear enrichment capacity, rather than offer assurances of future nuclear drawdowns.
“If you don’t want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60% enriched fuel? And if you want to show commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, don’t build highly enriched fuel. That’s a very basic threshold issue,” Vance says. “I think if they want to show a commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, they would do something meaningful on their enrichment capacity.”
Iran and the US have exchanged proposals in recent weeks aimed at ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy shipping route. US President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s latest offer and has warned that military operations could intensify after the midterms.
Vance says the US remains open to an agreement but will require concrete Iranian nuclear concessions.
“We’re not going to trade words for actions,” Vance said.
Complicating matters, Vance says Washington is uncertain who makes decisions in Tehran.
“One of the things we picked up on is it’s not totally clear how their country makes decisions,” Vance says. Separately, Trump said on Tuesday his “biggest problem” is no one knows who is running Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Sunday that US officials are well aware of who their Iranian counterparts are and how Iran’s decision-making system works.
Vance declines to say if he is leading peace talks, though he is frequently cited as the White House’s top negotiator.
“We’re certainly involved,” he says. “Ultimately, the president of the United States is driving things.”
Flydubai requests OK to resume Israel flights as investigation wraps, but Regev says no — report
Flydubai has requested permission to resume its flights to Israel one week after a copilot on one of its planes attempted to carry out a terror attack, saying that an investigation into the attack was concluding and many employees had been fired, Channel 13 reports.
The report says that officials from Israel’s Transportation Ministry have also been invited to tour Dubai next week.
As of now, however, Transportation Minister Miri Regev has declined the airline’s request, the report says.
The Omani copilot, Hamam al-Hammami, attacked the plane’s captain, Smit Machchhar, on the September 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. He allegedly aimed to crash the plane, killing the approximately 180 people on board, the vast majority of them Israeli. Machchhar and several Israelis succeeded in thwarting the attack and subduing al-Hammami.
The attack has sparked outrage in Israel, where the Transportation Ministry and security establishment face accusations of negligence regarding flight crewmembers from hostile states landing in the country.
Channel 13 reports that, according to draft requirements that have been formulated in the wake of the attack, anyone who isn’t an Israeli citizen, including pilots and crew, would have to fill out a form 48 hours ahead of the flight that will be reviewed by government authorities. Citizens of countries flagged as “red” under the new system would also be screened by the Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence agencies.
Jewish NYC officials call for permanent Oct. 7 memorial in Brooklyn
A coalition of Jewish officials in New York City calls for a permanent memorial to the victims of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught in Israel.
The effort has the backing of the city’s two highest-ranking Jewish elected leaders, City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Comptroller Mark Levine, as well as the chair of the council’s Jewish Caucus, Eric Dinowitz, Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, and State Senator Sam Sutton.
“Across the city, New Yorkers were profoundly impacted by the terrorist attacks on 10/7, and this memorial will serve as a testament to the resilience and strength of our relationship with Israel and its people,” Dinowitz says in a statement.
The lawmakers are proposing a 6-foot by 6-foot (1.8 by 1.8 meter) memorial at the Mickey Kairey Garden in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn.
A joint statement says community leaders are “committed to privately raising the funds” for the memorial and its maintenance, while working with city agencies for the necessary approvals.
Eva Marie Saint, star of ‘Exodus,’ dies at 102
Eva Marie Saint, the graceful blonde who starred opposite Paul Newman in “Exodus,” the 1960 film epic about Israel’s founding, has died at the age of 102.
Saint died of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles, a statement from her spokesperson says.
Saint won an Oscar in her film debut for her portrayal of the virtuous Edie Doyle in director Elia Kazan’s gritty 1954 drama “On the Waterfront,” then changed direction as the spy Eve Kendall in director Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller “North by Northwest.”
“On the Waterfront” won eight Academy Awards, including best picture, with Kazan named best director, Marlon Brando best actor and Saint best supporting actress.
Saint was pregnant when she accepted her Oscar in March 1955. She gingerly walked to the stage, kissed the golden statuette and excitedly told the audience, “I may have the baby right here!” Two days after the ceremony, she gave birth to her first child, Darrell Hayden.
Otto Preminger hired her for “Exodus,” in which she played Kitty Fremont, an American nurse who falls in love with the film’s protagonist, Newman’s Ari Ben Canaan.
John Frankenheimer directed her in both “All Fall Down” (1962) with Warren Beatty and “Grand Prix” (1966) with James Garner.
Vincente Minnelli directed Saint in “The Sandpiper” (1965) with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, while Norman Jewison cast her in the Cold War satire “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” (1966), an Oscar best picture nominee.
Saint was born on July 4, 1924, in New Jersey. She married veteran TV director Jeffrey Hayden in 1951 – a marriage that lasted until his death in 2016 – and they had two children. She starred in about 20 movies but turned down many roles to devote time to her family.