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By Hannah Kliger Hannah Kliger joined the CBS News New York team as a reporter in May 2022, focusing her coverage in Brooklyn. A native New Yorker, Hannah has received several awards for her investigative journalism about problems plaguing Brooklynites, from hate crimes to housing rental scams. Read Full Bio October 7, 2026 / 6:40 PM EDT / CBS New York Add CBS News on Google Three years after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, members of Brooklyn's Jewish community are pushing for a permanent memorial honoring those killed and the hostages who never returned home.
The effort comes as the community remembers the wound the attacks left on New York City's Jewish diaspora thousands of miles away. At a gathering at the Shorefront Y, organizers said they wanted to remember the victims while focusing on the stories of heroism. "We don't want it to be very dark.
We want to remember what happened and we want to celebrate life," said Annetta Rozenberg, director of social services at the Shorefront Y. Anna Malkina, a Shorefront Y volunteer, recalled the impact of the attacks on her Russian-speaking Jewish community. In an interview translated from Russian, she said, "May this never happen again." Three years later, Malkina continues to wear a yellow ribbon to remember the hostages who never made it home alive.
"In solidarity," she said, "of what they went through." Ben Kogan, a local small business owner, said the attacks resonated across the Jewish community worldwide. "Jewish people, we are one soul. We're just pieces of one soul.
So we all feel each other," Kogan said. Now, elected officials and community leaders are seeking to turn that remembrance into a permanent memorial. At a gathering on Kings Highway and East Fifth Street, supporters called for a new installation at Mickey Kairey Garden.
"From those very first moments, this was a wound on the body of the Jewish community of New York City because the ties between this city, within the Jewish community here, and Israel are so tight," New York City Comptroller Mark Levine said. Joey Saban, a district leader, said the impact of the attacks extended beyond Israel. "October 7th, it didn't just happen in Israel.
It happened to all of us. The loss and pain crippled a nation, but it was followed by stories of heroism and unity," Saban said. The proposed memorial would be a 6-by-6-foot installation at the triangular green space.
"There are people who are already denying that the Holocaust happened. That's why we build monuments, museums and have programs in schools," said Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council. New York state Sen.
Sam Sutton said the community is also confronting efforts to dispute what happened on that day. "We find ourselves fighting a second battle, the battle just to make the world acknowledge the truth about what actually happened," Sutton said. Officials say the installation would be the first public Oct. 7 memorial of its kind in New York City.
The design, installation and maintenance would be privately funded by members of the community. Neither the New York City Parks Department nor the mayor's office responded to multiple requests for comment regarding the approvals needed for the project. "May it serve as a way for us to respond to hate with hope and to match that hope with action," said Julie Menin, the first Jewish Speaker of the New York City Council.
Have a story idea or tip in Brooklyn? Email Hannah by CLICKING HERE . In: Brooklyn
Source: CBS News
