Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the official state ceremony marking the eve of Israel's Memorial
By Bernie,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the official state ceremony marking the eve of Israel's Memorial Day at Yad LaBanim in Jerusalem moments ago.
Netanyahu honored the 25,648 soldiers who have fallen in defense of Israel, a figure that now includes Warrant Officer (res.) Barak Kalfon and Sgt. First Class (res.) Lidor Porat, killed in recent days on the Lebanon front. He described the current conflict as a multi-front war on a scale not seen since Israel's War of Independence, and said the generation of soldiers fighting since the October 7 attacks has delivered "blow after blow" against Israel's enemies, from the depths of Gaza to the peak of Mount Hermon.
Turning to Iran, Netanyahu said Tehran had planned to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons and that the names of Iranian nuclear sites would have joined the list of death camps in Jewish memory had Israel not acted. "We acted and we smashed the plot of murder," he said. "This is precisely the difference between our reality of life in the terrible exile and a life of revival on the land of Israel."
The prime minister recounted a moment from a recent IDF officers' delegation to Poland, during which Heli Wollfstal, mother of fallen Capt. (res.) Ariel Mordechay Wollfstal of Elazar, placed stones gathered from the Kfar Etzion cemetery onto the graves of Jewish Brigade soldiers who fought in World War II. "Today we have the strength, we have the spirit to wage war against our enemies," Netanyahu quoted her as saying.
Netanyahu also spoke about the wounded, including Reserve Major Rabbi Liraz Zeira, a Chabad emissary who lost both legs after stepping on an old explosive device at an Israeli position inside southern Syria. Netanyahu quoted him as saying: "They took my legs and gave me wings in their place, wings of heroism, wings of spirit, wings of victory."
The prime minister closed by saying Israel had succeeded in bringing home all of its hostages, living and fallen, and that the state would provide whatever resources were needed for the full recovery of its wounded.
Topics: Iran, Lebanon & Hezbollah, Gaza
Reported by Bernie for Bernie News Network. See our editorial standards and corrections policy.