TENAFLY, N.J. — Three years after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Congressman Josh Gottheimer stood beneath the street sign honoring former hostage Edan Alexander and warned that the wave of antisemitism that followed the massacre must stop.

Gottheimer was joined Tuesday by Alexander’s parents, Adi and Yael, local officials and Jewish community leaders as he unveiled a package of bipartisan measures commemorating the victims, honoring the hostages and fighting antisemitism.

Alexander, a Tenafly native, was abducted while serving in the Israel Defense Forces and spent 584 days in Hamas captivity before his release in May 2025.

“It is unfathomable” that people are now “glorifying Hamas terrorists as martyrs” or trying to justify the Oct. 7 attack, Gottheimer said.

“We will speak the truth about October 7th. We will stand up to hate wherever it rears its ugly head,” he said.

Gottheimer’s October 7 Remembrance Resolution has 50 bipartisan co-sponsors and would honor those killed and taken hostage, reaffirm Israel’s right to self-defense, support a future Gaza without Hamas rule and condemn rising antisemitism.

He also highlighted legislation that would award the Congressional Gold Medal to American victims and hostages of the attack and another measure directing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to create educational materials about Oct. 7 and the antisemitism that followed.

Gottheimer also called for holding the United Nations accountable until Hamas and Hezbollah are designated as terrorist organizations.

“Since Hamas's devastating attack, we have witnessed a tidal wave of antisemitism that began almost immediately,” Gottheimer said.

The congressman pointed to Bergen County’s 139 reported antisemitic incidents last year, the highest total of any county in New Jersey, according to the report.

For Tenafly, the anniversary carried an especially personal weight.

Alexander’s name now marks the street outside Borough Hall. His family stood alongside Gottheimer as the congressman called for remembering what happened on Oct. 7 and confronting the hatred that followed.