Among those lighting Independence Day torches: IDF officers, entrepreneur, doctor

The first torch at the Independence Day torchlighting ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem is lit by IDF officers Col. “Mem” and Maj. Nurit Rokah.

Mem — identified only by his first initial in Hebrew — is the head of the Israeli Air Force’s Iran department, and Rokah is a commander in the Border Defense Corps’s Combat Intelligence Collection Array.

Rokah was wounded while defending the army’s Urim base during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught and severely injured a second time in a Hamas ambush in the Gaza Strip in April 2025.

The IAF officer, who is seen wearing sunglasses and a balaclava to mask his identity, says he is lighting the torch “in honor of the fighters, men and women, in the air, at sea, and on land, in the standing army and in the reserves, who operate around the clock, in defense and offense, with courage and determination.”

Rokah similarly says she is lighting the torch “in honor of the fighters, men and women, members of the ground forces, including my brothers and sisters from the Combat Intelligence Collection Array, who operate along all borders and beyond them.”

Another torch-lighter is venture capitalist and cyber entrepreneur Gili Raanan, celebrated for “leading Israeli innovation.”

Next is Professor Dina Ben-Yehuda, a doctor who has held various top jobs in Israel’s medical establishment. She says she is there to represent Israel’s medical establishment that she notes “has been facing difficult years with bravery, from the coronavirus to the long and painful war.”

Torch-lighter Tamer Atallah, a Druze former soldier, is honored for his work to boost ties with Syrian Druze.