Honoring the fallen
Memorial Day siren brings Budapest airport to a standstill
El Al security officer takes over airport's PA system, inviting travelers to join airline's employees to stand in honor the fallen IDF soldiers.
Passengers preparing to board an El Al flight from Budapest to Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning experienced an emotional moment when the terminal came to a standstill during a 2-minute siren in memory of Israel's fallen soldiers and terror victims.
During security check for the flight, El Al's security officer took over the airport's main PA system and announced he was halting security for El Al passengers for two minutes to allow his employees to stand in memory of the fallen, at the same time as the siren in Israel.
The El Al security officer invited travelers to join the airline's employees.
Two-minute siren at Budapest airport
And so, in utter silence, 180 Israelis and Hungarians, religious and secular Jews and non-Jews, all stood together at the terminal to honor the memory of the fallen.
Israel's Ambassador to Hungary, Ilan Mor, welcomed the El Al security officer's initiative, saying it fit together with a Memorial Day ceremony held at the Israeli Embassy earlier in the day, attended by dozens of Israeli students going to school in Hungary, the heads of the Jewish community in the country, Israeli businessmen and others.
