Tel Aviv University (TAU) held a special exhibit on Thursday, October 19, at its 1,000-seat Smolarz Auditorium. Pictures of all persons abducted, missing, murdered, or killed in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel — both citizens and IDF soldiers — were displayed on the empty seats. The initiative was led by Daniel Zilber, Chair of the TAU Student Union, in collaboration with TAU.

The exhibit is also part of a broad initiative led by Shaked Benafshi, initiator of the students’ public diplomacy war room United Against Terrorism, which includes dozens of support rallies and exhibits at approximately 20 leading universities in the US and Europe, to assist Israel’s public diplomacy efforts and expose the horrors of the Hamas terror attack. Participating campuses include Harvard, Yale, NYU, MIT, University of Michigan, Columbia University, and many others.

“At this time we are still in the midst of the inferno, in the midst of war,” Zilber said. “Many of the dead have not been identified yet, the wounded are just beginning to heal, in both body and soul, and our families, our friends, are lost. We are here to try to illustrate, even slightly, the extent of the horror, and show the world: we have been butchered. This is neither a slogan nor a cliché: Despite the carnage, we shall triumph. Despite the disaster, we shall come out stronger. We, the students, the future generation of the state of Israel, will do everything to make sure that such a disaster never happens again, not on our watch!”

“The rallies and exhibits in support of Israel, including the War Room we opened this week, which includes over 100 students all over the world, prove that international solidarity does exist when it comes to unacceptable acts of terrorism,” added Benafshi, former Chair of the National Union of Israeli Students. “We see students coming together in unprecedented ways, to strengthen Israel’s publicity and stand behind us. Also, since we assume that as time goes by international public opinion will probably turn against Israel, we regard the activities of citizens and students in dozens of countries worldwide as a strategic asset for Israel’s public diplomacy.”