TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attacks launched by Hamas against Israel in 2023 was marked in Taiwan on Monday (Oct. 7) with the opening of an Israel-Taiwan art exhibition and memorial, as well as a protest outside the Israeli representative office in Taipei.
Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei Representative Maya Yaron opened the exhibition, "Embracing Hope Again," at the Taipei Film House. She expressed gratitude to Taiwan for its support and highlighted the similarities between both sides.
“I want to thank the Taiwanese leaders and people; they have been standing alongside Israel from the first moment, and we are stronger together,” Yaron said. “We are democracies, we uphold human rights, we are liberal societies, and this is something that will continue,” she added.
Legislator and head of the Taiwan-Israel parliamentary friendship group, Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱), attended a closed preview of the exhibit on Sunday (Oct. 6), alongside other members of the group and Control Yuan member Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠).

Yaron said the impact of the Oct. 7 attacks, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed during a Hamas assault on Israeli territory, is still deeply felt. While Israel prays for the hostages still in Hamas captivity, she added, the country is also looking toward the future.
Israel hopes for a “new order” in the Middle East that differs from the pre-Oct. 7, 2023 status quo, Yaron said. She said this is taking time to achieve, which may lead to delays in any potential ceasefire.
Taiwan became indirectly involved in the Middle East conflict in September when around 5,000 pagers circulated by the militant group Hezbollah, and branded with the name of a Taiwanese company, exploded in Lebanon, in an attack attributed to the Israeli government. Yaron declined to say if the Taiwan government had approached the Israeli office about this but suggested the issue gained greater attention in Taiwan than in Israel.
When pressed about the possible implications such actions could have on a company’s reputation, Yaron reiterated that Israel would take whatever measures were necessary to defend itself. She added that Taiwan and Israel have maintained an “open line of communication” on all issues related to regional conflicts since Oct. 7.

Earlier on Monday, a group of civil society organizations staged a protest outside the Israeli office in Taipei, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and an end to the killing of Palestinian civilians. Organized by the Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine, the protesters claimed that Israel's response to the Oct. 7 attack violated the principle of proportionality in war.
The protesters accused the Israeli government of indiscriminately killing Palestinians, alleging that it amounted to “genocide.” According to figures from the Palestinian health authorities, cited by the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over 41,689 Palestinians have died since Oct. 7, and 1.9 million people have been displaced.
To highlight the number of children killed in Gaza since the conflict began, protesters threw soft toys at a picture of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu.
Taiwan-Palestine Freedom Front Spokesperson Yang Kang (陽剛) said Monday’s protest was smaller than previous demonstrations because of the anniversary. Yang explained that the group had agreed not to hold a large-scale protest on the anniversary out of sensitivity to the emotions of those affected. Instead, they plan to hold a protest march on Sunday (Oct. 13) to call for an end to the conflict.
