Rivlin opens 50th Jerusalem Day celebrations at Western Wall

President Reuven Rivlin opens Israel’s Jerusalem Day celebrations marking 50 years since the Six Day War and unification of the city.

At the official ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Rivlin speaks of his memories of the battle for the city, and of the moments he heard the Old City had been secured under Israeli control.

“We gave our all for Jerusalem because we knew that on Jerusalem we must insist,” he says. “We will always insist on Jerusalem. There never has been, there never be any other reality. Here, in these stones, beats the heart of the Jewish People. Jerusalem is the heart of the State of Israel, and the Kotel is the heart of Jerusalem.”

President Reuven Rivlin opening Jerusalem Day celebrations at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City. (Mark Neiman/GPO)

The ceremony was attended by representatives of the IDF units who led the battle to liberate Jerusalem in 1967, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

Rivlin concluded his address by saying, “On the day of Jerusalem’s liberation, then defense minister Moshe Dayan wrote a note, and slotted it in between the stones of the Kotel: ‘May peace be upon Israel’. Today too, we continue to carry that prayer. May God give, and bring peace over Israel. ‘“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her,’ Happy Jerusalem Day.”