At Memorial Day ceremony, leaders warn of division, IDF chief says ‘all parts of nation’ must defend it

• Netanyahu strikes defiant tone at earlier event, declaring ‘superiority over the Iranian axis’ and vowing that ‘we have not yet finished the work’; Haredi brigade holds ceremony

President Isaac Herzog and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir issued pleas for unity, and praised the country’s resolve in wartime, at Israel’s official Memorial Day ceremony Monday evening at the Western Wall.

Zamir, evidently alluding to the ongoing government-backed broad exemption from military service by the ultra-Orthodox community, declared that “all parts of the nation” need to participate in the “security mission” to defend Israel. “This campaign teaches us that these are necessary conditions for our military strength,” said Zamir, “and that cohesion is a condition for our existence.”

At an earlier event, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF’s work was not yet done in Iran.

The state ceremony came at the start of a solemn day in the Israeli national calendar, when people across the country pause to memorialize loved ones killed in battle and in terror attacks. As the country turned its lens to the bereaved, those who lost loved ones spoke about their pain and pride.

The events began at 8 p.m. with the sounding of a one-minute siren across the country, during which Israelis stood in silence, marking the onset of Memorial Day. A memorial flame for the fallen was then lit at the ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City.

In their remarks, national leaders noted that this was the third Memorial Day since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, which began a period of near-constant fighting on multiple fronts. In addition to praising the soldiers who have fought in those battles, both Herzog and Zamir nodded to the deep rifts that have plagued Israeli society in recent years, especially throughout the war.

“Our nation has one song, a song of many voices,” Herzog said near the end of his remarks. “The history of our people teaches, again and again: When voices silence one another, the danger grows. When voices sing together, the nation rises.”

Earlier in his speech, Herzog paid tribute to “this generation” of Israeli soldiers, encouraging them to consider “what comes after the war.”

“We are still in the midst of the campaign. In recent days, to our deep sorrow, more precious and beloved sons have been added to the list of the fallen,” Herzog said, referring to soldiers killed during renewed fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which was sparked by the US-Israeli war with Iran.

“War is a fateful time, a national test, and as a nation we are meeting it with extraordinary strength, and will continue to meet it with determination and resolve, through all the unbearable pain,” he said.

Herzog recounted stories and writings of several soldiers killed during the fighting against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon over the past two and a half years, as well as in previous wars.

He stressed the need to balance military strength with moral purpose, saying, “We do not live by our sword, but alongside it. We will grasp it in times of need, such as now, with one hand, and the sword will be sharp and resolute. But the spirit will always be, and must be, mighty and rooted in our other hand…the spirit that yearns for peace, for freedom, and for dignity.”

He added, “It is now the turn of this generation of war to dare and to dream of the day after, to write the song that comes after the war. It deserves a song of hope.”

The Defense Ministry said the total number of those who have been killed in conflicts since 1860, many decades before the establishment of the State of Israel, stood at 25,648.

Zamir: We need ‘deep partnership,’ Iran won’t ‘realize its ambitions’

In his speech, Zamir said the military would not allow Iran to “realize its ambitions” against Israel, and praised the achievements of the IDF on the battlefield.

“We returned the hostages home from Hamas captivity. We established new security anchors on the Gaza Strip border and on the Syrian border. In Lebanon, we are acting to create a new reality and to return security to the northern communities,” he said.

“We set out on an unprecedented campaign against the Iranian regime, which for years built a plan for the destruction of the State of Israel and developed practical capabilities to realize it,” Zamir continued.

He said the IDF “did not remain silent in the face of our historical mission. We struck with power and thwarted the regime’s plans. We will continue to stand on guard, we will not allow Iran to realize its ambitions, and we will ensure the eternity of Israel.”

Zamir says that the military will “forever walk girded with a sword to ensure a vision of prosperity, growth, and peace for our children and grandchildren.”

He also alluded to the fierce debate over whether ultra-Orthodox men should continue to receive sweeping exemptions from conscription, calling for all segments of society to contribute.

“To realize the vision, we are required as a people, from all parts of the nation, to share deep partnership in the security mission and to bear the burden through learning and change,” he said. “This campaign teaches us that these are necessary conditions for our military strength and that cohesion is a condition for our existence.”

Ahead of Memorial Day, Channel 13 had reported that the IDF’s Hasmonean Brigade, which is made up of Haredi soldiers, would not be marking Memorial Day out of sensitivity to Haredi communities that are not Zionist.

But the brigade did eventually observe the day at its training base in the Jordan Valley, with a ceremony that included reading the Yizkor memorial prayer, lighting a flame, lowering the state flag to half-staff, and singing the Hatikva national anthem, according to the military.

Speaking at the ceremony, Hasmonean Brigade commander Col. Shemer Raviv said, “On this day, we pause our daily routine, bow our heads, and unite in remembrance of the fallen, those who gave their lives so that we may live here, in this land, in safety.”

‘The walls are soaked with longing’

Ceremonies earlier on Monday centered on the voices of bereaved parents and others who have lost loved ones in the years since October 7.

At a ceremony hosted in Jerusalem by Yad Labanim, an organization dedicated to commemorating fallen soldiers, Yafit Goshen, mother of Oriya Ayimalk Goshen, who was killed in Gaza in January 2024, revealed that her son died in a mission to save Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, a mother and her two young sons who were taken hostage on October 7 and executed in captivity.

“I’m standing here in Yad Labanim, a place where the walls are soaked with longing,” she said. “I’m standing here as an inseparable part of the bereaved families of the State of Israel over the past year. Bereavement has gone from being a remote concept to a daily reality that burns my heart.”

She added, “Our responsibility as a society is to be worthy of the sacrifice of Oriya and of all of the fallen. We must have unity in our nation.”

The Yad Labanim ceremony was attended by Netanyahu, Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.

Speaking at the ceremony, Netanyahu, who lost his brother Yoni in the 1976 hostage rescue mission at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport, said, “The longing is present every single day; the arms ache to embrace again. The eyes long to see the smile. The ears long to hear the voice, the voice of our loved one.”

He later turned to Israel’s battles in recent years, including the US-Israeli war with Iran, which was paused by a ceasefire almost two weeks ago. He praised the military’s successes, while asserting that the IDF had yet to complete its mission in Iran.

“Our flag is planted from the depths of the Gaza Strip to the crown of Mount Hermon, and our pilots control the skies of the region as definitive proof of our superiority over the Iranian axis,” he said. “We have not yet finished the work, but the world already recognizes our determination to defend ourselves, and not only ourselves, but to defend humanity from barbaric fanaticism.”

BY: Nava Freiberg – Emanuel Fabian – Sam Sokol