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UJA event marking third anniversary of Oct. 7 draws about 400, memorial made of hostage pins, tags unveiled

“So much of the New York Oct. 7 story is the role that the New York Jewish community played in fighting for the return of the hostages,” Hindy Poupko of the UJA told JNS.

Andrei Kozlov
Former Israeli hostage Andrei Kozlov speaks at a UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Photo by Rebecca Szlechter.

Andrey Kozlov, a non-Jewish Israeli who was captured on Oct. 7 when he was serving as an unarmed security guard at the Nova festival, urged Jews worldwide to stand firm in their identity in remarks at a UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Lower Manhattan.

“Know your truth. Be strong. Be loud,” he told the audience of about 400 on the third anniversary of Oct. 7. “Don’t give up.”

At the event, the museum unveiled a public art installation, titled “Rooted,” made from hostage tags and pins.

Kozlov, who spent about eight months in captivity, told JNS that the anniversary brought a mixture of emotions and that it’s challenging to process what happened to him.

“It’s about memory. It’s about grief,” he told JNS.

He added that he spent much of the past year isolated in his art studio and that the anniversary was an occasion to reflect on what comes next, as he continues to use art to process his experience and communicate what captivity felt like.

UJA Museum of Jewish Heritage Oct. 7
“Rooted: A Testament to Jewish Resilience” a sculpture incorporating hostage tags and pins, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City on Oct. 7, 2026. Photo by Rebecca Szlechter.

During the event, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin called for a permanent Oct. 7 memorial in Brooklyn, “so that we, in New York City, could create a permanent memorial for Oct. 7, so that we can ensure that our children will have a place to go to honor, to commemorate and to memorialize this horrific day.”

Menin told attendees that “this is a very, very difficult day for the Jewish community.”

“I just want to say that today should be a day about only one thing and that is honoring and remembering the 1,200 people who were murdered by Hamas terrorists. That is what Oct. 7 is about,” she told attendees. “I think to say anything but that is not OK.”

That has been interpreted to be a response to Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, who drew widespread criticism from mainstream Jewish leaders for his Oct. 7 statement that accused Israel of “genocide,” among other things.

Jewish leaders said that the mayor’s Oct. 7 statement, and other things he has said, are putting Jews at risk. The New York Post called Menin’s statement a “thinly veiled swipe” at Mamdani.

Menin, who received a standing ovation, also discussed the City Council’s five-point plan to combat Jew-hatred, including efforts to protect houses of worship and schools and a program bringing eighth-grade public school students to the museum’s Holocaust exhibition. (Mamdani nixed one of the council’s two “buffer zone” bills, which didn’t pass with a veto-proof majority, but the council subsequently passed a new version of it.)

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who also received a standing ovation, pledged to continue using her office to protect Jewish New Yorkers and to fight antisemitism.

“My solidarity with the Jewish people will never, ever waver,” she said.

Hochul recalled traveling to Israel in the days after Oct. 7 to meet with families of victims and hostages and witness the aftermath firsthand. She described the resilience of Israelis she encountered, even as they endured profound grief.

“I also was touched by the enduring strength, the compassion that came from Israel,” she said. “A resiliency that never ceased to amaze me.”

She also said there is state funding for security measures at Jewish institutions and houses of worship and that she would continue supporting those efforts. “I will defend and do everything I can to protect every single Jewish New Yorker,” she said.

Dede Bandaid and Nitzan Mintz
Israeli artists Dede Bandaid and Nitzan Mintz stand beside “Rooted: A Testament to Jewish Resilience,” a sculpture made from hostage tags and pins, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Photo by Rebecca Szlechter.

‘Rooted’

Israeli artists Dede Bandaid and Nitzan Mintz, who previously worked on the global “Kidnapped from Israel” poster campaign, created the art installation, which stands more than six feet tall and is made of transparent acrylic and resembles a tree trunk with roots.

It incorporates hostage tags and pins that New Yorkers and Jews worldwide used and wore and that they contributed to the installation.

The artists, who are married, told JNS that they wanted visitors to feel they contributed in a way that was both personal and part of something larger.

Each tag or pin represents an individual’s connection to the hostages, they told JNS, finishing each other’s sentences. Together, the objects reflect the strength of a community united in support of their return, they said.

When people “stand together,” they have “much more power,” they said.

Hindy Poupko, executive vice president of community strategy and external relations at the UJA, told JNS that the artwork honors the activism of Jewish New Yorkers, who worked to secure the hostages’ release.

“So much of the New York Oct. 7 story is the role that the New York Jewish community played in fighting for the return of the hostages,” she said.

Poupko told JNS that the installation recognizes both the horror of the attacks and the resilience of Israelis and Jewish New Yorkers over the past three years.

UJA holds Oct. 7 event at Museum of Jewish Heritage in 2026
UJA holds Oct. 7 event at Museum of Jewish Heritage in 2026
Menin City Council Oct. 7
Menin City Council Oct. 7
Menin City Council Oct. 7
Menin City Council Oct. 7 Hochul
UJA Jewish Heritage Museum Oct. 7
UJA Jewish Heritage Museum Oct. 7
UJA Jewish Heritage Museum Oct. 7
UJA Jewish Heritage Museum Oct. 7
Andrey Kozlov
UJA Museum of Jewish Heritage Oct. 7
Hochul
Jule Menin
Menin City Council Oct. 7
Menin City Council Oct. 7
Menin City Council Oct. 7
Menin City Council Oct. 7
UJA Jewish Heritage Museum Oct. 7
UJA Jewish Heritage Museum Oct. 7
UJA Jewish Heritage Museum Oct. 7 Dan Goldman
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin attends a UJA-Jewish Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: John McCarten/New York City Council.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin attends a UJA-Jewish Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: John McCarten/New York City Council.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin attends a UJA-Jewish Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: John McCarten/New York City Council.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin attends a UJA-Jewish Federation of New York Oct. 7 event, alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: John McCarten/New York City Council.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at the UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 commemoration at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Don Pollard
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at the UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 commemoration at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Don Pollard
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at the UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 commemoration at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Don Pollard
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at the UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 commemoration at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Don Pollard
Former Israeli hostage Andrey Kozlov speaks at a UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Photo by Rebecca Szlechter.
Former Israeli hostage Andrei Kozlov speaks at the unveiling of “Rooted: A Testament to Jewish Resilience” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Photo by Rebecca Szlechter.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Photo by Rebecca Szlechter.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin speaks at a UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Photo by Rebecca Szlechter.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin attends a UJA-Jewish Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: John McCarten/New York City Council.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin attends a UJA-Jewish Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: John McCarten/New York City Council.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin attends a UJA-Jewish Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: John McCarten/New York City Council.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin attends a UJA-Jewish Federation of New York Oct. 7 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: John McCarten/New York City Council.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at the UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 commemoration at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Don Pollard
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at the UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 commemoration at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Don Pollard
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (not pictured) delivers remarks at the UJA-Federation of New York Oct. 7 commemoration at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Don Pollard

She hopes visitors who participated in the hostage campaign will feel pride in their collective efforts.

“When we lock arms, when we work together, when we unite, we can accomplish things that seem impossible,” she told JNS.

For Kozlov, the third anniversary held personal significance. During his 246 days in Hamas captivity, he told attendees that he used a psychological technique to get through the darkest moments.

He imagined himself three years in the future, trying to think about how he would feel.

“Today is that day,” he said. “Very, very special.”

Reaching the anniversary gave him a chance to reflect on the life to which he had fought to return and what he wanted to do with it.

Kozlov wants his paintings to become “a form of testimony,” conveying both what happened during the attacks and in captivity and what those experiences felt like to him.

“We choose what we preserve,” he told attendees. “We choose whose names we continue to say. We choose what lessons we carry forward.”

Rebecca Szlechter is a reporter at JNS based in New York City.
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