The Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, has expressed Israel’s appreciation to U.S. President Donald Trump for his steadfast support, courage, and the role he played in ensuring the release of Israeli hostages from Gaza and enhancing the ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel.
Ambassador Freeman stated this in Abuja during the second-year commemoration of the October 7th memorial ceremony since the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas.
According to the envoy, thousands of Hamas terrorists poured across Israel’s border, murdering entire families in their homes, raping women, torturing children, and burning people alive, noting that the attack marked the darkest day in modern Israeli and Jewish history, which can never be forgotten.
The Israeli Ambassador commended nations and friends who have stood by Israel all the while.
“I must express our thanks to President Trump for his steadfast support, courage in recognising truths others ignored, and his unique efforts in bringing our hostages home and helping to finally end this war. We must look forward. Our prayer is that out of this darkness, a better future may yet emerge, not only for Israelis, but for Palestinians, for our region, and for the world. A future where children grow up, not under the shadow of rockets or grip of terror, but under light of peace. May the souls of the victims be bound in the bond of life. May their memory be a blessing. May we, the living, ensure that their sacrifice strengthens our resolve to defend truth, justice, and the right of the Jewish people to live free in their ancestral homeland.”
The Israeli ambassador further sympathised with the innocent Palestinians who have lost their lives in the war, stressing that the war is what Israel never wanted.
“Friends, as we remember the victims of October 7, we also express sympathy for the innocent Palestinians who have lost their lives in this war—a war Israel never wanted, a war Israel never started – a war that was forced upon us. We grieve for every innocent soul.
“We value all life. Israel is built on courage, on faith, on history. We are not foreigners in Israel; we did not colonise the land of Israel; we returned to it. Jews have lived in Jerusalem, Tiberias, Hebron, Tsfat and every part of our land for over 3,000 years. Through exile and dispersion, we prayed toward Jerusalem, and we remembered Jerusalem at every wedding, every festival, and at every dinner table.
“We revived our language, planted forests, gathered exiles, welcomed survivors, and built a modern technology-based economy in a nation reborn. Israel was not created because of the Holocaust. It was created in spite of it. Today, “Never Again” is not just a slogan. It is the Iron Dome that protects children in Sderot. It is the Israeli pilot in the sky. It is the 18-year-old girl in olive uniform, standing guard so that our children can sleep at night,” he added.
Other highlights of the event were the observation of a moment of silence, candle lighting, the story of Inbar Haiman, the presentation on “Empty chairs at empty tables” by Ivri Freeman, and Ella Mor’s testimony.