Two years ago, on October the 7th, 2023, Hamas militants committed a series of atrocities in southern Israel. 1,195 people were killed in the attacks. 251 people were taken hostage by Hamas, 47 remain in captivity. Some alive, some dead.

Since then, war has ravaged the Gaza Strip and, in the form of escalating settler violence, spread to the West Bank. Israel has inflicted famine on Gazans. Over 60,000 Palestinians have been reportedly killed in the conflict, a third of them children.

And this war has rippled far beyond Palestine, Israel and the Middle East, affecting communities and politics around the world. In Britain, protesters have filled the streets, and questions are asked about why our government has supported Israel with weaponry and intelligence used in the Gaza strip. Last Friday, on Yom Kippur, the Jewish calendar’s most holy day, two worshippers were stabbed to death outside a synagogue in Manchester.

Tanjil Rashid is joined by Rachel Cunliffe.

Read: Under bombardment in Gaza City; What it’s like to be Jewish in Britain now; The world has abandoned the hostages; How Israel warped the West

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October 7th changed the West forever

Politics from the New Statesman