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Itongadol.- Israel bowed head to honor fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism on Sunday evening. Following a minute-long nationwide siren, an official state ceremony was held at the Western Wall, in which Magi Lakrif, wife of the late Capt. Nir Lakrif, who was killed in the air force helicopter training disaster in Romania in 2010 at the age of 26, lit the remembrance torch.
In a speech on Sunday evening marking the beginning of Remembrance Day events, President Shimon Peres emphasized the importance of peace in the face of the loss of 25,578 IDF soldiers who lost their lives in Israel\’s wars.
"It is our duty not to spare any effort or price to eliminate war from the land and bring peace and security to it," the president said. "Terror brings murder, peace brings life, to us and to our neighbors," he added at the conclusion of a touching speech at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem that talked of the loss and pain experienced by bereaved families.
"You are the true heroes of life," the president told the bereaved families.
He described the great immensity of their loss. "You will look at [your love one\’s] friends, watch them grow up in front of your very eyes; finish their army service, get married, have children, develop a career, rise in rank. Your thoughts will wander to far off fantasy land: this is your daughter, this is your son, that will never be parents and will never rise in rank at work and will never grow old. Their faces will remain forever white as snow and the wrinkles will line your faces, but not theirs."
The president told the bereaved families that he and the people of Israel share their pain, and thanked them for their, and their loved one\’s sacrifice.
"We know that your daily routine will never be the same. We know the secret of your wet pillow at night. We who walked alongside your children, and some of us who saw them in their last moments, we know well that there are no words we could say tonight that could heal the pain. We know well that we have yet to find in the world the hug that will bring back the wheel of life, as if nothing had happened. As if the nightmare is over, as if this was just merely a bad dream. And if we had such a word, such a hug, we would walk to the edge of the earth to bring it to you," he said.
"We will never forget and always remember those whose existence and glory of Israel is credited to. Those who for the last 65 years protected the country with their bodies, and blood and spirit, protected its borders, the security of its citizens, its freedom and independence. Israel is as dear to us as the fierceness of the bravery of our fighters and as deep as the pain on each fighter that has fallen. Here, in front of the holy Kotel stones, I say on behalf of the entire nation of Israel that you, the fallen IDF soldiers, deserve the thanks and glory for all of eternity," he continued.
Thanks to these brave men and women who lost their lives, "the existence of the state of Israel is no longer in doubt. The IDF is ready and prepared for any scenario, for any threat, for any danger."
The president also made a promise to carry on the memory of the lost soldiers. "We are here today to tell you that we know there is no comfort to those who lost a son, a husband, a father, a brother, that we will not be able to bring back those who are gone. But, it may be of comfort to you, if only for a little bit, knowing that we, your family and friends, remember and will continue to remember them. And their faces will never be erased of the images of our lives."