Ya’alon: ‘We will not be misled by smooth words’

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Wednesday that while Israel is always looking to reach peace with its neighbors, it will not be misled by “smooth talking and illusions” when it comes to defending the country against its enemies.

The minister spoke at a ceremony at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery near Tel Aviv, held as the country marked Memorial Day for the 23,320 fallen IDF soldiers, police, and security personnel, and those killed in terror attacks.

“The process of loss is hard, and has no cure,” Ya’alon told bereaved families at the ceremony.

“For 67 years the State of Israel has struggled against those who seek to do her evil, and pays, unfortunately, a heavy price.

“Our hands reach out to peace with the countries and nations in the region, and whoever has that same intention, his [outstretched] hand will not be left hanging in the air,” said the minister, who served as chief of staff of the IDF.

“We are, like them, looking to peace, and that’s how we educate the future generations. Ready, as we have shown in the past, to walk the long path, lined with potholes, to achieve it and prevent pain and tears in the future. That is our way, and those are our values.

“But we will not be misled by slick words and illusions,” Ya’alon warned, and spoke of conflicts ravaging many parts of the region, fueled, he said, by an Iranian regime that threatens the whole world.

“The Middle East is changing beyond recognition, and the place of armies is being taken by bloodthirsty reckless groups alongside a Iranian terror state which is currently financing, training, and arming terror, and that has its hands in every place in the region and even beyond,” he said.

“We must remember that around us are not a small number of those who have not yet accepted our right to a Jewish national home, and they will do all that they can to deceive us and to try to interrupt our lives,” Ya’alon said. “They do that with rockets and missiles, terror and delegitimization, and in recent years in an effort to develop nuclear weapons that threaten not only Israel, but also all of humanity.

“In order to ensure our security against these challenges, Israel needs a strong, well-trained and high-quality army that acts with determination and strength along the borders and even far from them,” he added.

“Just last summer, we buried 72 of our best, among them 67 IDF fighters and commanders who fell during Operation Protective Edge as they went out to defend the residents of the south from terror groups in the Gaza Strip,” the defense minister said. “They did that out of a sense of duty, and they understood that there is no one else who will protect the citizens of Israel.”

Six civilians were also killed in the conflict as Palestinian group fired over 4,000 rockets at Israeli towns, mostly in the south of the country.

Ya’alon also spoke of Israel’s commitment to return its missing soldiers, and in particular the bodies of two IDF soldiers believed held by Hamas in the wake of the summer war.

“It is a supreme value for us, and it is a commandment for us to do everything we can to bring back to Israel Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul of blessed memory, Lt. Hadar Goldin of blessed memory, and the rest of the IDF’s missing [from other conflicts],” he said. “It is a primary moral obligation for us, first and foremost to their families, to the soldiers and commanders of the IDF who we send on life-threatening missions, and to the Israeli people.”

The two soldiers were killed in separate incidents during the 50-day conflict with Hamas in July-August 2014. They were both declared dead based on evidence acquired in the fighting, but their bodies were never recovered by Israel.

Earlier this month the London-based al-Araby al-Jadeed reported Israel had requested that European officials serve as mediators in negotiations with Hamas over the soldiers’ remains.