Israel’s 78th Independence Day celebrations got underway as large crowds of Israelis spent the night between Tuesday and Wednesday at concerts, parties and events across the country. Alongside the traditional torch-lighting ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, which marks the transition from Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorist attacks to Independence Day.
For the first time in two years, the traditional torch-lighting ceremony was broadcast live rather than prerecorded, with thousands in the audience stands. Fourteen Israeli men and women were chosen to light the 12 torches, which symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel.
One of them was Maj. N., a combat soldier and commander in the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps, who was wounded in battle on Oct. 7 but insisted on returning to her post, only to be seriously wounded again in combat. She lit the IDF torch alongside Col. M., a former squadron commander who led Israeli Air Force planning for operations in Iran last year and this year.
Others who lit torches at the ceremony included high-tech entrepreneur Gili Raanan, who mentioned during the ceremony his daughter, Adi, who was killed in the 2018 Tzafit creek disaster, a flash-flood tragedy that killed 10 teenagers during a pre-military hiking trip; Prof. Dina Ben-Yehuda, who heads the hematology division at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and lit a torch “in honor of the physicians and all medical staff”; Tamer Atallah, a Druze accountant who served in the IDF’s financial branch and in Israel’s defense establishment; and Ora Hatan, a resident of the northern border town of Shtula, who refused to leave her home during the fighting with Hezbollah and chose instead to volunteer by cooking for IDF soldiers along the northern border.
Later Wednesday, as large numbers of Israelis gather for the traditional family and social barbecues that are a hallmark of Independence Day, several of the holiday’s customary events will also take place. At 9:30 a.m., a ceremony will begin at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem during which the President’s Award for Excellence will be presented to 120 soldiers, including seven lone soldiers who immigrated through the Tzofim Garin Tzabar program in order to enlist in the IDF.
In the shadow of the war, and as last year, the main Air Force flyover was canceled. But for the first time in three years, the Israeli Air Force Museum at Hatzerim, in southern Israel, will reopen to the public. Among the aircraft on display for visitors who reserved tickets in advance will be an F-16I Sufa fighter jet that carried out strikes in Iran.
At 11 a.m., the International Bible Contest, a long-running Independence Day tradition for Jewish youth from Israel and abroad, will begin at the Jerusalem Theater in the presence of President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Education Minister Yoav Kisch. The ceremony was filmed Monday and will be broadcast Wednesday, as is customary.
The Independence Day events will conclude with the Israel Prize ceremony, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Jerusalem International Convention Center.