The siren, which will be heard tonight at 8:00 PM, will pierce the heart of an entire country • Israel bows its head in memory of 23,928 victims of the Israeli military and 3,158 victims of hostilities
The military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul, yesterday
Photo:
AFP
Memorial Day for the Martyrs of the Israeli Armed Forces 5771 will open tonight at 20:00 with a one-minute memorial siren that will be heard throughout the country. Immediately after the siren, memorial rallies will begin throughout the country. The traditional main ceremony will take place at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem.
The ceremony will be attended by President Reuven Rivlin, Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Aviv Kochavi, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Places Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon, and Chief Military Rabbi Brigadier General Eyal Krim, and another 500 people are expected to attend the ceremony. As part of the preparations for the Memorial Day ceremony for the victims of the Israeli military operations at the Western Wall plaza, the permanent wooden partitions of the prayer complexes at the Western Wall (the capsules) were dismantled and temporary partitions were deployed.
Photo: AFP
The number of casualties in the Israeli system from 1860 to this year's Memorial Day is 23,928.
From the day of remembrance until 1954, to this day, 43 spaces were added to the number of fallen and another 69 disabled people died as a result of their disability and were recognized during the year as the spaces of the Israeli systems.
The number of civilians killed in hostilities since the day of the declaration of the state, 5 Iyar 1958, to date is 3,158. This number also includes 120 foreign civilians killed in terrorist attacks in Israel and 100 Israelis who perished abroad, according to Social Security data published yesterday.
Since the last Memorial Day, two civilians have been killed in hostilities: the late Esther Horgan, who was killed in a hostile operation in the Reihan Forest in Samaria, and the late Rabbi Shai Ohayon, who was killed in a hostile operation at Sgula Junction.
At 13:00, a state memorial service will be held for the victims of hostilities in Israel and abroad, which will be held near the monument in memory of the victims of hostilities on Mount Herzl. Yesterday a stranger at the foot of the monument in memory of the late Major Avraham Biazi, who was murdered by gang members from Silvan on his way to work as an intelligence coordinator in the Jerusalem area.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defense is asking the public to respect the bereaved families and allow them to come to the cemeteries to mingle with the memory of their loved ones while maintaining their health.
In light of this, the public was asked to visit the cemeteries during the week preceding Memorial Day, and not on Memorial Day itself.
Mets in missing structure
According to tradition, today at 16:30 the traditional memorial service will be held at Beit Yad LaBanim in Jerusalem in the presence of the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Knesset and the Mayor of Jerusalem.
Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., a two-minute memorial siren will sound, after which state memorial services will begin at 52 military cemeteries across the country and at memorial sites.
The main ceremony will take place at the State Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
Immediately after the siren, at 11:02, a special fighter jet of a missing structure will pass over the hall.
In preparation for Memorial Day, the Families, Commemoration and Heritage Department completed the preparation of the 52 military cemeteries, the Bedouin Warriors memorial site at the Hamovil junction, hundreds of military burial plots and thousands of graves scattered in the various localities from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat.
The works included renovation, accessibility, maintenance, cleaning, landscaping, as well as polishing and replacing damaged or old tombstones.
The names of all the victims of the Israeli systems will be broadcast consecutively on Channel 26 (Partner, yes and HOT), on Cellcom TV and in Idan Plus on the izkor channel in the order in which they fall, from today, on the eve of Remembrance Day, at 20:45, until Memorial Day evening.
In addition, the NATAL Association and the Shards Association will hold the "Memorial Day Ceremony for the Fallen and the Living." The ceremony will be broadcast live on NATAL's Facebook page and is intended for discharged soldiers dealing with post-trauma.
On Memorial Day, three different state symbols are used: The first is to light a memorial candle in memory of the martyrs.
In recent years, the possibility of lighting a virtual memorial candle has been added on the Ministry of Defense's Yizkor website.
Surfers can light a general candle in memory of the fallen or a personal candle for a specific space, and from now on you can also see the attached dedication on the site.
The second symbol is the laying of the state flag bearing a flame and a black ribbon "Yizkor" on the grave of each and every one of the martyrs of the Israeli systems and the third symbol is the laying of a bundle of flowers.
