Rivlin urges Israelis to fight for country’s character

More from Rivlin’s speech at the Memorial Day ceremony:

The president says he recently met with a man who lost his son in combat 20 years ago.

“He told me, ‘I do not fear this day. On this day I think about meaning. Every year they talk to us, the bereaved families, about the sorrow and the loss, but we have no need to be reminded of these pains. We carry them with us every day and every night. On this day you must turn to Israeli society as a whole and speak of self-examination with a view to the future, about rebuilding and about hope and about their deaths not being in vain.’

“I wish to honor that father’s request today and address all of us… the people of Israel, of all camps, are bound not just by the bonds of fate but those of purpose and meaning,” Rivlin continues.

He calls on all Israelis to honor the memory of those who died by “fighting for (the country’s) character. For the idea on which the State of Israel was established.”