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The massacre that took place on October 7, 2023, was documented on the internet in real time, as were the war that followed and the related events of both. Over the past two years, extensive material has been gathered from the web, both within Israel and abroad. This vast digital archive includes approximately 44 terabytes (TB), harvested from about 1,500 internet addresses. It documents the news published on Israeli websites and social networks; the public atmosphere in Israel, ranging from volunteer efforts to protests and demonstrations, including the struggle to return the hostages; websites commemorating those who were killed on October 7th or during the war, stories of by affected communities in southern and northern Israel; the responses of Jewish communities around the world to October 7th, the war, and the global wave of antisemitism, and more. The archive also includes Arabic materials from the Palestinian Authority territories, Gaza, and the broader Middle East. The archive has been assembled into three main categories: websites in Israel, the Jewish world, and the Arab world.
Personal experiences and reactions from the day of the events
Advocacy and solidarity efforts during the war
Documenting the global impact of October 7 on world Jewry
Art in the face of trauma: creative works documenting October 7
Preserving digital heritage since October 7
The National Authority File (Mazal) is a database managed by the National Library of Israel containing approximately 4.5 million authority records for people, organizations, places, and topics. The database is updated monthly with thousands of new records and adheres to international standards, including links to additional data sources.
Following the events of October 7, the Library began cataloging new authority records related to the war - a task undertaken not only out of documentary obligation, but with the deep intention of preserving the memory of the victims for generations to come.
To create a comprehensive view of the events of October 7 and the subsequent war, the database cross-references three key axes: people, places, and time, all cataloged through the National Authority File. As part of this effort, authority records were created for every person murdered or killed on October 7, as well as for every relevant attack site and combat zone.
Each record includes core metadata - such as name, date of birth, relationships, and cause of death for individuals, and precise location data for places. A dedicated working group is currently standardizing field definitions and normalizing data to ensure optimal discovery and reuse across the unified archive.
To the National Authority File
The importance of the project and the unprecedented scope of information in its various types – both real-time documentation of the events and the war, and institutional and civil documentation initiatives established in their wake – require professional effort and resource inclusion. The Library therefore operates in partnership with institutions, documentation projects, civil bodies and private individuals in Israel and around the world to ensure that the repository is as comprehensive and reliable as possible.
In January 2024, the Library established a consortium of project partners to formulate broad agreements regarding the complex work process. The consortium includes partners from the forum of war documentation initiative leaders, the Israeli Association for Oral Documentation, the Israeli Association for Archives and Information, Yad Vashem, the State Archive, Testimony 7/10, the Civilian Commission, the Civilian Documentation Archive at Tel Aviv University, Memory 7/10, Yad Tabenkin, Yad Yaari, the Civilian Emergency Headquarters and Arava Center. The consortium operates two working groups to formulate ethical rules and optimal work methods for recording documentation materials in the project and making them accessible.
A dynamic and comprehensive repository that continuously documents documentation initiatives throughout the country working to collect, preserve and document the events of the war and crisis. During the first weeks of the war, the Library joined the national forum of documentation initiative leaders – an independent and voluntary organization that established a platform for deep thinking, activity coordination, professional consultation and creating fruitful collaborations between the variety of documentation initiatives that emerged following the events of October 7 and the war that broke out in their wake. Within the framework of joint activity, the Library and the forum worked in close coordination and provided professional advice regarding appropriate archival standards, advanced work methods and protocols for recording and preserving various documentation materials.
More About Our Documentation Project
Without knowing how to read music, a heartbroken high school student composed a melody to words by Rabbi Kook that gave her strength. When the song spread its wings and began circulating widely, she could hardly believe how many others found in it the same strength and comfort it had offered her. This is the story of how that song, composed in the 1990s, made its way onto an album commemorating the late Yotam Haim, who was abducted by Hamas into Gaza.
Ayelet Glaser was a student at Columbia University on October 7, 2023. Her experiences during the days that followed led directly to her "Aliyah" - her immigration to Israel, where she lives today. Here she shares some of what she saw, heard and felt during that life-changing period.
Hope and Loss in Israeli Commemorative Culture
They cover the walls of train stations, the sides of bus stops, and the poles of street lamps. Smiling faces, a familiar phrase, and sometimes a QR code leading to a memorial website. The National Library is creating an archive that will collect and preserve the stickers commemorating the victims of the Nova festival and those who have fallen in the war. Why is it important to preserve these memorial stickers, how should it be done, and what meaning does this kind of documentation hold for bereaved families?
The Bearing Witness Archive, documenting the events of October 7 and the ensuing war, has been established in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage and the Tekuma Authority.
The National Library of Israel thanks all of its partners, whose generosity makes this project possible:
The Gottesman Fund
The Mandel Foundation
Jewish United Fund of Chicago
Heather Reisman
RFHE - Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe
The Houston Federation
Mitch Julis
The Baker Foundation
The Tidewater Federation
Central Synagogue
The Matanel Foundation
The William Davidson Foundation
“Trees come into bloom and become bare again, children grow up and die old and gray, buildings fall into ruin and rise again in another form...”
