October 7: 'An entire nation bows and weeps'
Herzog lowers the Israeli flag to half-staff for the October 7 commemoration day. The annual national commemoration takes place on 24 Tishrei, two days after Simchat Torah, the Hebrew calendar date corresponding to the terror…
Assessment
Israel marks its first annual national commemoration of the October 7 attack, anchored to the Hebrew calendar date of 24 Tishri rather than the Gregorian anniversary. President Isaac Herzog lowered the flag at 6:29 a.m., the exact time the assault began, a symbolic choice that ties the state's mourning ritual to the moment of the massacre. The ceremony folds the Hamas attack and the subsequent war into a single national day of remembrance, which shapes how Israelis will collectively process the event in years to come. Watch for how this annual date becomes a political and cultural reference point, especially as the war's toll continues to grow.