Tomas Sandell, Founding Director of the European Coalition for Israel,  noted that the League of Nations had failed the Jewish people in the 1930’s and that the international community, this time through the United Nations, is failing the Jewish people again in 2024.

Christian leaders from the United States, Germany, France and Finland demanded an ”immediate and unconditional” release of the 101 remaining hostages held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists as they met on the shores of Lake Geneva on Wednesday night to express their solidarity with the Jewish people and the State of Israel on the first anniversary of the pogrom of October 7.

They were joined on the podium by Binyamin Greilsammer, a local pianist who was part of a project sponsored by the mother of Alon Ohel, one of the remaining hostages in Gaza, in order to give a name to each of the 101 hostages. Alon Ohel is a gifted pianist who has been accepted to one of Israel’s best music academies. When Hamas attacked the Nova music festival on October 7, many of his friends were killed whereas Alon was brutally dragged away by terrorists. One year later he is still held hostage by Hamas.

Author and social critic Os Guinness explained how standing against the evil of October 7 is part of a broader defence of our common civilisation. “Just like in the days of Hitler and the mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, the enemies of the Jewish people are uniting across the world but let us remember that what starts with the Jews, never ends with the Jews.”

Guinness shared the story of the US master sergeant Roddie Edmonds, who was captured by the Germans in the Second World War. The Nazi soldiers made it very clear that Jewish Americans were to be separated from their fellow brothers in arms and sent to an uncertain fate. As the highest-ranking officer held in the German POW camp, sergeant Edmonds ordered more than 1,000 American captives to step forward with him and pronounce, “we are all Jews here.”

This was the message of the solidarity event on Wednesday evening as Sister Adora Graf from the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in Darmstadt, Father Thierry Vernet from Paris, Os Guinness from Virginia, USA and ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell explained why they were standing in solidarity with the Jewish people after October 7.

In her speech Sister Adora Graf imagined what would have happened if all the local churches in Germany had rung the church bells on the Night of Broken glass, on November 9, 1938. Could the tragedy have been prevented? “As Christians we could have sent a clear message if churches all over Germany had raised the Israeli flag in response to October 7,” she said. “We were silent during the Holocaust and we are silent or we even oppose Israel today.”

The location of the event, on the shores of Lake Geneva just outside of Palais Wilson, the former headquarters of the League of Nations which today serves as the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was significant.

In his speech Tomas Sandell noted that the League of Nations had failed the Jewish people in the 1930’s and that the international community, this time through the United Nations, is failing the Jewish people again in 2024.

“How can it be that the UN has failed to condemn Hamas by name even once after the atrocities of October 7?” he asked. “But even worse, how can it be that also leaders of faith have been mostly quiet?” Still, in his speech he gave concrete examples of Christian leaders from around the world who are waking up to the new realities of post October 7 and want to make a difference. “They are not as numerous as we would wish but you are not alone”, he said.
The rally in Geneva was part of an educational campaign by European Coalition for Israel which started in Berlin in January 2022 on the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee conference. It continued with a Crisis Summit at the United Nations in Geneva on International Holocaust Remembrance Day  in January 2024. Wednesday evening’s solidarity event was also part of a local initiative in Geneva to commemorate the victims of October 7. The event was supported by global Christian leaders, among them former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey and former Secretary-General of the World Evangelical Alliance, Thomas Schirrmacher. In a written message to the event Schirrmacher noted that “the events of October 7 are not simply part of a war within the Holy Land but a war against the very existence of the State of Israel, and Israel has the right to defend itself.”