Israelis began marking Memorial Day Tuesday afternoon, with a series of ceremonies nationwide commemorating Israel’s fallen warriors – including soldiers, police and members of the pre-state Jewish underground – as well as the country’s many victims of terrorism.
President Reuven Rivlin began speaking at the official ceremony at the Western Wall (Kotel) before bereaved families on Tuesday night, noting how the shared experience of having loved ones who fell defending Israel unites all segments of Israel’s society.
“Last summer, I traveled far and wide, across this country. I visited the homes of beloved and wonderful boys who fell defending the country during Operation Protective Edge,” the president said. “The geography of pain, as I learned, stretched the length and breadth of the country, yet it did not divide it.”
“Death struck at the door of many, regardless of their religious beliefs. No camp was left untouched by death. I saw the sons of the Kibbutzim, of the settlements, of the villages, towns and cities, Jews and non-Jews, lone soldiers and new immigrants.
“I got to them though, too late. I got to know them, when they were already gone. I watched them laughing in home movies, I saw them smiling in photographs, hugging their nephews, holding their girlfriends hands, who are left bereft.
“The bereaved family is intertwined, with a shared fate. A fate which was forced upon them. Israeli society, with all its camps, is connected not just in terms of shared destiny, but in terms of purpose and meaning. Memorial Day is a day upon which we, all of us, gather together in the national mourning tent.”
Rivlin recalled meeting the father of a soldier who was killed in Gaza 20 years ago, who told him about the constant pain of loss, and urged Israel to work in the future to make sure that the death of the fallen will “not have been in vain.”
The president called to have Israel’s different populations be united not only in their joint fate, but also in their identity and goal.
Life in Israel demands that its residents fight for the existence of the state, and at the same time for the idea and identity for which the state was created, said Rivlin, adding “we are forced to fight…to defend our borders, to defend our homes.”
“Our obligation to our children and grandchildren…is to try and avoid the next war” in trying to convince the other side not to wage war, while in parallel being aware of the reality and the dangers, and prepare for the coming challenges, he said.
Aside from physically defending the state, Rivlin also spoke about the mission of defending the essence of the state, saying the Jewish people will not “make do with survival,” but instead will “live” as a free nation with creativity and vision.
“For the Jewish people, survival alone has never and should never suffice,” he said.
“The DNA of this nation is one of faith and creativity. We insist on survival because we believe in life. Because we believe in a vision of being a free nation.
“From the ashes we have risen. Over the graves of our children, siblings, parents and friends, we have risen from misery and despair to have hope and faith. This hope and faith is what leads us on our path…
“The deaths of those who died defending our home, forces us to deepen our commitment to building that home; as a more just home, as a more compassionate home, as a home where not only those who have fallen, but all those within it are equal. This is our debt to their heroic deeds, and their lives which were lost.”
Ensuring Israel’s existence
Next to speak was IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, who noted the Western Wall behind him represented the long history of the Jewish people and its struggles to defend itself.
“Our soldiers stand side to side…working together on the ground, air and sea at all times to defend the state and ensure its existence,” said Eizenkot.
The strength of the IDF is its support from the public, he said, calling it a “people’s army in the fullest sense of the term.”
The memory of the fallen is “an order for us” to continue their mission of defending the Jewish state of Israel.
“In my long years as a fighter and as a commander, I saw your pain,” Eizenkot told the bereaved families, saying he understood the great emptiness created in their lives with the loss of their loved ones.
He promised that the IDF would always stand by their sides to support them.
“67 years after the war of independence…we continue to need to stand on the defense of the existence of the state,” he said. “We will do all that is needed to complete our mission.”
After the reading of a literary piece written about Operation Protective Edge, in which the IDF put down a terror war launched by Hamas in Gaza that fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilian centers, the IDF Chief Rabbi Rafi Peretz said a prayer for the fallen soldiers, including numerous scriptural references relating to those who fall while fighting to sanctify G-d’s name.
Kotel Chief Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz then read a psalm in memory of the fallen, after which a bereaved father read the Kaddish prayer for the dead, and then the national anthem Hatikva was sung by the IDF Chief Cantor Shai Abramson.
“Our determination grows”
Around 1.5 million people are expected to visit military cemeteries over the course of tomorrow.
The opening events began at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Yad Lebanim House (the association of the families of fallen soldiers of IDF and Security Forces) in Jerusalem, led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin.
At 8 p.m. on Tuesday sirens were sounded throughout Israel, and immediately thereafter at the Western Wall Plaza a Memorial Day candle lighting ceremony took place, led by Rivlin and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Eizenkott.
Speaking at the Yad Lebanim ceremony earlier today, Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed that attempts by Israel’s enemies to destroy her would only make the country stronger.
“As the threats from our enemies to destroy our homeland grow, our determination to defend our homeland grows,” he said.
“We saw this last summer during Operation Protective Edge, such courage, unity and sacrifice,” he continued, referring to Israel’s 50-day war with Islamist terrorists in Gaza, during which 67 soldiers were killed in action.
“We saw also lone soldiers who came from the Diaspora to serve in the IDF and were killed in the war. They left family and a comfortable life abroad and chose to join fighting units. They said this is our home and we came to defend it.”
“When your grief is painful, be comforted in the fact that your sons and daughters fell to ensure the existence of the nation,” the PM told the grieving families. “There is no future for the Jewish people without the state of Israel.”
Netanyahu also related to his own person loss: that of his brother Yoni, who died during the IDF’s famous raid on a hijacked airplane in Entebbe Airport, Uganda.
“Thirty nine years after my brother fell, the sorrow does not release its grip,” the PM related.
“The sorrow did not release its grip of my parents, may they rest in peace, to their final day. The sorrow does not release its grip on you.
“On this day, the people join us in our sorrow. The people stand tall and bow their heads, lower their flag in gratitude… in memory of our loved ones who died.”
