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Itongadol.- Ahead of the eve of Remembrance Day for fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terrorism, bereaved families were gathering in military cemeteries across the country on Sunday.
At the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "We\’re here thanks to Israeli fighters who enlisted to the struggle for our existence, thanks to those who survived Israel\’s campaigns and those who fell."
The PM added that "today\’s threats to Israel are greater than in the past, but the IDF and the security branches are stronger than ever. We\’ll keep striving for peace with our neighbors and securing fearlessly Israel\’s future."
Defense Minister Moshe Ya\’alon released a statement: "The same as every year, as evening descends, the State of Israel mourns its fallen.
"The Earth stands still. With immense pain and unrelenting yearning pass before our eyes the images of family, friends, subordinates and comrades at arms, who paid the highest price.
"Memories which accompany us and will continue to do so for the rest of our lives, and with them a sense of infinite distress and troubling questions of what might have been, and where would they have been today."
Addressing the bereaved families, Ya\’alon wrote: "There is no remedy for the sorrow which follows you every day. Coping isn\’t easy, and the wounds refuse to heal.
"But in your bravery you are a symbol for the perseverance of Israeli society, which repeatedly stands up to the challenges facing it."
Mazal Dayan and Shoshana Tzadok visited the grave of Yehuda and Ahava, their respective husbands, in Kiryat Shaul.
Mazal, whose husband fell two months after their marriage, said: "The pain never goes away, it\’s always very hard."
Ahava served as a tank driver. According to Tzadok, "It\’s still important to me to come here every year with the family, to cherish his memory.
"We\’ll always remember him. He was a friend and a good husband. His memory will not depart."
\’He wasn\’t supposed to be in the vehicle\’
Jacqueline Cohen arrived with her daughter Nadia and her granddaughter to visit the grave of her brother Avner, who fell in the War of Independence .
"He enlisted eight months after we emigrated from Iran, he was only 18 and a half when he died," Jacqueline recalled.