Army calls on families to film home foot drills for Independence Day

With Independence Day events limited or canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the IDF’s Home Front Command is encouraging Israeli children to recreate parts of the festivities at home.

One of the main events in Israel for Independence Day is the traditional torch-lighting ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, which regularly features Israeli soldiers performing elaborate foot drills. However, as the ceremony is being held under a limited format this year with no audience, the Home Front Command is calling on families to perform and record their own drills at home, videos of which will be used in the event.

“[We’re] going to create a joint drill ceremony from home,” Colonel Shimon Deri, the ceremony’s master-at-arms, said in a video released by the Home Front Command on social media channels.

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Among the examples Deri gave of possible drills were the forming of a Star of David, cooking a kebab on the barbecue, and a human recreation of the coronavirus.

“From your video clips we’ll create a civilian foot drill ceremony of the State of Israel for the year 2020,” he said. The final, edited video will be posted to the Home Front Command’s site and social media channels.

Deri added, perhaps jokingly, that if some of the submitted shapes are particularly eye-catching, he could use them as inspiration for next year’s Independence Day celebrations.

Videos must be submitted by 6 p.m. on Sunday at the email address tekesatzmaut2020@gmail.com.

Israeli soldiers walk near the stage at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, where the official national celebrations, with no audience, will be held in honor of Israel’s 72nd independence day, April 22, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israelis are gearing up for a week of limited commemorations and celebrations for Israel’s independence and memorial days, amid boosted restrictions to keep people at home, in the latest bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Restrictions have also been imposed for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Thursday.