“The people remember. The people salute. The people are deeply grateful to the sons and daughters, thanks to whom our existence is assured,” the prime minister said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in Jerusalem on Israel’s Memorial Day, which began on Monday evening, said the day is one of “heavy sorrow” but also the “anchor of unifying togetherness.”
“The people remember. The people salute. The people are deeply grateful to the sons and daughters, thanks to whom our existence is assured. In the words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘For a people in Zion dwelt in Jerusalem, weep and do not weep,’ ” the prime minister said at a ceremony of Yad LaBanim, the official group commemorating Israel’s fallen.
Among those attending the ceremony were the speaker of the Knesset, the president of the Supreme Court, Israel’s chief rabbis, and the mayor of Jerusalem.
Netanyahu said the loss of a loved one always stays with the families of those who have fallen. He recalled how, after 50 years, his family still longs for his elder brother, Jonathan, who died leading the 1976 raid on Entebbe.