On Memorial Day, Liberman says Israel working to return MIAs
At military cemetery in Tel Aviv, defense minister pays tribute to IDF soldiers who fell defending the Jewish state
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Monday paid tribute to Israel’s fallen at a Memorial Day ceremony in Tel Aviv, saying the loss of the country’s young men and women in battle was the price of the Jewish people’s struggle to establish a sovereign state in the land of Israel.
“This is the terrible and painful price of the decision of the Jewish people to be the masters of their own fate, to return to their homeland and to realize a free, sovereign and national life and culture,” he said at the Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery.
“Sixty-nine years ago the State of Israel was established, the wish and dream of many generations of Jews for thousands of years. The State of Israel was born and established in the storm of battle. Sixty-nine years later, and [we still] can’t rest. ‘A war with no end in sight.’
“Generation after generation we are forced time after time to accompany to their rest the best of our sons and daughters, our young and talented, the salt of the earth,” he said, adding, “the passing of time does not dull the pain, but only strengthens the recognition of the magnitude of loss.”
Echoing separate Memorial Day speeches by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, Liberman also said that Israel would continue to work for the return of those who went missing in action.
“With an embracing hand and a supportive shoulder, we will continue to work to return those missing in action and those who fell in Israel’s campaigns whose resting place is unknown, and together pray that the list of the fallen will not grow any longer,” he said.
The Hamas terror group claims to be holding the bodies of two IDF soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, killed during the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip. Returning the soldiers’ remains, and the cost it may entail in negotiations with Hamas, is a painful issue of debate in Israeli society.
Several other soldiers remain missing, including Yehuda Katz, Zachary Baumel and Zvi Feldman who went missing in Lebanon in 1982, and navigator Ron Arad, shot down in 1986.
Liberman also said that thanks to those who lost their lives fighting in the Jewish state’s wars, Israel has become “a source of inspiration for many nations and countries throughout the world” due to its achievements.
“These achievements are the fruit of Israel’s labor, inspiring skill and collective creativity. But they could not have come into the world without the promise of security and existence that was achieved first and foremost by the fallen,” he said.
Since 1860, when the first Jewish neighborhood was established outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls, 23,544 men and women have died defending Israel and the pre-state Jewish community, according to official figures.
In the past year, 97 additional Israelis were added to the list of the fallen, with 37 of them having been disabled IDF veterans who succumbed to their injuries.
Memorial Day began 8 p.m. Sunday evening with the sounding of the siren that brought the nation to a standstill for one minute, followed by the official ceremony at the Western Wall.
On Monday, a two-minute siren was heard at 11 a.m., which was then followed by a ceremony at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery. The official ceremony honoring those who died in acts of terror began at 1 p.m.
In addition to the official ceremonies, some 1.5 million Israelis are expected to visit the gravesides of loved ones and friends for smaller events throughout the country over the course of the day.
The commemoration day, established in 1951 by then-prime minister and defense minister David Ben-Gurion, was set for the 4th of Iyar, the day before Independence Day, which begins immediately after Memorial Day on Monday night. It is being held a day late this year so as not to follow directly on the heels of the Sabbath, which would have prevented religious observant families from attending the opening ceremonies on Memorial Day Eve.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.