The Hamas attacks were fuelled by antisemitism

Shlomo Mansour turned 86 while being held captive, having been kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October 2023.

- KAREN POLLOCK

He was dragged from his home in his pyjamas, forced into his own car and driven to Gaza.

For Shlomo, this was not the first time he had been the victim of anti-Jewish hatred. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Shlomo was just 13 when the Farhud – the 1941 pogrom that saw his Jewish community in Iraq devastated by violence – unfolded. The same antisemitism that caused his suffering in Baghdad decades ago had once again come for him – this time at the hands of Hamas.

On 7 October, the world watched in horror as Hamas launched a barbaric assault on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and injuring thousands more. Among those who were brutalised, tortured, and taken from their homes were 251 men, women, and children. They were kidnapped, dragged into Gaza, and paraded through the streets. One of them was Alex Dancyg – someone who dedicated his life to educating people about the Holocaust and the threat of antisemitism. He was later murdered by Hamas.

A year on, an estimated 97 of those hostages remain in captivity. Some are known to be dead, while the fate of others is left uncertain, their families living in a nightmare that no one should ever have to experience.