The first official ceremony begins, marking Israel’s Memorial Day for the 23,447 fallen soldiers and terror victims.
A siren will sound at 8 p.m. and tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. in memory of the victims.
Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein speak at the Yad L’Banim memorial.
“We will not give up on the hopes of reconciliation with our enemies, but firstly we will reconcile among ourselves, and there is no deeper expression of our shared fate than when we remember, with love, and salute our heroic sons and daughters who fell so that we could live in our country,” says Netanyahu.
Edelstein says: “We ought to look at reality straight on and declare sorrowfully: We don’t want to live by the sword, but for now, our enemies don’t give us another choice.”
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There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
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