12 torches lit in ceremony marking opening of Israel's 70th Independence Day.
In the opening ceremony for Israel's 70th Independence Day at Mount Herzl, 12 torches symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel were lit. Among the torch lighters were singer Shlomo Artzi, actors Leah Keonig and Ze'ev Revah and Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yeshayahu Gavish.
The other torch lighters were Haredi hi-tech worker Racheli Ganot; Cpt. Noam Gershuni, a former combat helicopter pilot wounded in the Second Lebanon War; Margalit Zinati, member of ancient Jewish family that has been maintaining Jewish presence in the Galilee continuously since the days of the Second Temple; Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif; Prof. Marcelle Machluf, the Dean of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion; Prof. Aviezri Fraenkel, one of Israel's first computer science researchers; Mai Korman, a high school student with hearing impairment who developed a unique notification system to alert parents if they had forgetfully left a child in the car; and linguist Dr. Avshalom Kor.
