Israel fell silent at 11 a.m. Tuesday as a two-minute siren was sounded nationwide to mark Memorial Day for the country’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks.
At the Hall of Remembrance on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, the state ceremony for Israel’s fallen soldiers was held in the presence of President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Supreme Court President Justice Yitzhak Amit and senior defense officials.
“On this sacred mountain, Mount Herzl, generations of heroes and heroines are laid to rest,” Netanyahu said at the start of his remarks. “The wound is deeper than time. Time passes, but the pain never does. I feel it in every part of my being. My brother Yoni, who is buried here, fell 50 years ago. He led his brave soldiers who rescued our hostages in Entebbe, Uganda. I was then an Israeli student in Boston in the United States. My brother Iddo called me and told me our eldest brother had fallen in battle. My world collapsed. There is not a day that I do not think of my brother Yoni. You were so dear to me, and I miss you deeply. All of us in the bereaved families miss our loved ones dearly.”
Netanyahu also mentioned Master Sgt. (res.) Dov Moshe Kogan and Master Sgt. Avihay Amsalem, who were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip. “When Shaldag fighter Kogan fell, his wife Shaked cried out that what keeps her steady in the face of loss is ‘looking forward and upward, as the spirit of the people and yours carries me,’” Netanyahu said. “When Avihay fell, his sister Shira said words that capture the essence of our people.”
Referring to the ceasefire with Iran, Netanyahu said: “In the war with Iran, following Israel’s previous campaigns, the essence is clearer than ever: to defend our national existence, to protect our home, our people and our state, and to ensure, with God’s help, the eternity of Israel. The ayatollah regime planned a holocaust. It sought to destroy us with nuclear bombs and thousands of ballistic missiles. Had we not acted against these existential threats, we might have joined the names of the Holocaust camps, Auschwitz, Treblinka.”
The events began Monday evening with a one-minute siren in memory of 25,648 fallen members of Israel’s security forces. Immediately afterward, a memorial candle-lighting ceremony was held at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem.
President Herzog said at the ceremony: “Only in recent days, heartbreakingly, more beloved sons have been added to the list of the fallen. War is a defining moment, a national test, and we as a nation are meeting it in an inspiring way, and will continue to do so, with determination and strength, despite all the terrible pain.”
He added: “When the fighting stops, silence appears, like the sacred moment after the siren that tears through the sky. But in that silence there is no rest. It is a heavy silence, one that leaves a void. A silence in which a mother turns the pages of an album and burns every memory into her eyes. A silence of a loved one thinking of a partner who managed to type a message, but did not manage to send it. A silence of a girl and boy for whom a hug from father or mother has become a lost word. A silence of a grandson who promised to visit but did not come, a silence of a granddaughter who planned to call, but whose voice will no longer be heard. It is a silence with no language, and no comfort. And within that silence, we understand that here too, before the Western Wall, words come to a halt, and all that remains is stillness.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, speaking at the ceremony that opened Memorial Day events, spoke about the bond linking generations of fighters, from biblical times and Abraham, through King David’s conquest of Jerusalem, Judah Maccabee and Israel’s wars, to the morning of October 7.
“My commanders and soldiers, I remain without words in the face of your courage and determination. There are few among the veteran fighters of our country who have taken part in fighting as prolonged and complex as the one you are leading. Alongside the generation of commanders who fought for the establishment of the state and its building, I look at you with pride,” Zamir said.
He added: “We will forever walk with a sword at our side in order to secure a vision of prosperity, growth and peace for our children and grandchildren. To realize that vision, we as a people, from all parts of the nation, need deep partnership in the security mission and a willingness to share the burden through learning and change. This campaign teaches us that these are essential conditions for our military strength, and that cohesion is a condition for our existence.”
At 1 p.m., the state memorial ceremony for victims of terror attacks will be held at Mount Herzl. At 4 p.m., a state memorial ceremony for underground fighters and those executed before Israel’s founding will take place in Acre. At 7:45 p.m., the torch-lighting ceremony at Mount Herzl will begin, closing Memorial Day events and opening celebrations for Israel’s 78th Independence Day.
First published: 10:54, 04.21.26