One year after the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel, and with less than a month until the election, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, commemorated the victims of the attacks in events on opposite coasts.

In Washington, Harris and her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, planted a pomegranate tree outside of the Naval Observatory as a memorial to those killed one year ago. 

“As the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said, a people that can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and still rejoice is a people that cannot be defeated by any force or fear,” Harris said, in a speech that also quoted Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Mourner’s Kaddish prayer. “That is why today we plant a pomegranate tree, which, in Judaism, is a symbol of hope and righteousness.” 

The tree, Harris continued, “will stand here, spreading its roots and growing stronger to remind future vice presidents of the United States, their families and all who pass through these grounds not only of the horror of Oct. 7, but the strength and the endurance of the Jewish people.” 

In a brief address, Harris shared the stories of three Americans killed on Oct. 7 and named the Americans who are still being held hostage in Gaza. 

“I will never forget Oct. 7, and the world must never forget what is asked of us,” said Harris. “We must work to ensure nothing like the horrors of Oct. 7 can ever happen again, and on this solemn day, I will restate my pledge to always ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself, and that I will always work to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish people here and around the world.”

Harris praised Jews’ “commitment to repair the world, an idea that has been passed on throughout generations of the Jewish people and across many faiths,” and connected it to the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza: “To that end, we must work to relieve the immense suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza who have experienced so much pain and loss over the year.” 

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Walz visited the “Nova Music Festival Exhibition,” which memorializes the hundreds of people killed at the music festival near Gaza’s border on Oct. 7. Walz walked through the exhibit with Noa Beer, a survivor of the attack. 

“Today, I join Vice President Harris, President Biden, and all Americans to again condemn Hamas’s brutality and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and to the safety and security of the American Jewish community,” Walz said in a statement. He described his meeting with American hostage families last month, saying he “offered them my wholehearted support as Vice President Harris and President [Joe] Biden continue doing everything possible to secure the release of all hostages.” 

Earlier in the day, Biden took part in a brief, somber memorial event at the White House. He and First Lady Jill Biden lit a yahrzeit candle while Rabbi Aaron Alexander, of Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, recited El Maleh Rachamim, a Jewish prayer about mourning that is usually recited at funerals. In the place where a rabbi usually mentions the name of the deceased, Alexander’s rendition of the prayer named the Israeli kibbutzim and communities that were devastated by Hamas one year ago. 

“Be’eri, Sderot, Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz, Re’im, Nirim, Magen, Sufa, Nir Yitzchak, Nir Oz, Kerem Shalom, Ofakim, Erin Hashlosha, Moshav Yachini, Netiv Haasara, Holit, Festival Nova,” Alexander intoned, with Biden standing next to him. 

“The Oct. 7 attack brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of hatred and violence against the Jewish people,” Biden said in a statement on Monday. “That is why, soon after the attack, I became the first American President to visit Israel in a time of war. I made clear then to the people of Israel: You are not alone. One year later, Vice President Harris and I remain fully committed to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist.”