Forensics, Memory and Responsibility: International Conference Marking Three Years Since the October 7 Attacks

Three years after the October 7 massacre, the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, in partnership with Hadassah Medical Center, will hold an international conference examining the professional lessons learned from the events in the fields of forensic medicine and criminal identification.

The conference was born out of a professional initiative by Hadassah Medical Center to bring together the knowledge and experience accumulated through the identification efforts and response to the events of October 7. The international conference connects professional knowledge gained in the field with broader questions of documentation, memory, education, and passing these lessons on to future generations.

Attendees will include experts from Israel and abroad specializing in the identification of victims, forensic medicine, forensic anthropology, dental identification, and fingerprint identification. The discussions will examine how the experience gained in responding to a mass-casualty event of unprecedented scale and complexity contributed to the advancement of the field, and what can be learned from it to better prepare for future events.

The conference will be led by Dr. Ira Titnick, a U.S.-based dentist specializing in forensic dental identification. Following October 7, Dr. Titnick helped establish professional connections and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and information with Israeli professionals. The conference will provide an opportunity for experts who dealt directly with the aftermath of the events to share the knowledge and experience they gained, alongside international experts with extensive experience in victim identification and mass-casualty and disaster response.

Israeli speakers include Dr. Chen Kugel, Director of the L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine; Prof. Esi Sharon, the conference’s Vice Chair and Commander of the Volunteer Dentists Unit within the Israel Police’s Victim Identification Division; Dr. Nurit Boubli, Director of the Laboratories Division and Biological Laboratory at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine; as well as leading experts from the Israel Police’s Forensic Identification Division.

International speakers include Prof. Thomas Holland, a forensic anthropologist and former Scientific Director of the Central Identification Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Defense, and Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist and former head of the New York City Police Department’s Forensic Pathology Unit.

Over the course of two days, participants will address a range of issues that emerged in the aftermath of October 7, including the role of forensic science in police investigations of mass murder, the management and identification of victims, dental identification, identification challenges, and technologies and methods for fingerprint identification.

The partnership between Hadassah Medical Center and the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem reflects two complementary missions that emerged from the events of October 7: one focused on documenting, identifying, and establishing the facts, and the other on preserving evidence, shaping collective memory, and passing the story on to future generations.

As part of its unique contribution to the conference, the Leadership Academy of the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem will explore how evidence-based historical memory can serve as a foundation for developing values-driven leadership, civic commitment, responsibility, and social engagement.

Dr. Granit Almog-Barkat, Director of the Leadership Academy at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, said:

“This approach lies at the heart of the Leadership Academy’s work, connecting personal testimony and public memory with questions of leadership, resilience, social engagement, and responsibility toward future generations.

“The Leadership Academy at the Museum of Tolerance offers an educational and leadership framework that traces the connection between establishing factual truth through forensic evidence, shaping an evidence-based historical memory, and developing civic responsibility. This approach emphasizes the role of empirical findings and public memory in shaping moral consciousness, civic commitment, and values-driven leadership dedicated to advancing tolerance, justice, and social resilience.”

The Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem invites professionals in relevant fields to take part in the conference.

For more information: 03-976-0030

Tuesday–Wednesday | October 13–14, 2026
Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem
32 Hillel Street, Jerusalem