Remembering this who fell during the Six-Day War
President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin attended the official memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Six-Day War and the War of Attrition at the Hall of Remembrance at Har Herzl. Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Binyamin (Benny) Gantz also participated in the ceremony.
President Reuven talks of the Six-Day War Photo: Marc Neyman/GPO
The president said: “In the shadow of coronavirus, the wheels of normality are already moving. Slowly, slowly we are coming out of the restrictions. But we still cannot all gather here, as we would want. We cannot embrace you, as we would want. We cannot take the bereaved families to our hearts. We do all of these things but from afar.
53 years have passed since the Six-Day War and the terrible War of Attrition that followed it,” said the president. “We will never forget the heroism, the sense of duty. The comradeship, the devotion and the sacrifice. The determination to win, to strike the enemy a deadly blow, to defeat them and break their will to fight, to remove the threat of annihilation from the State of Israel. Jerusalem is returned to its sons and daughters! We soldiers felt enormous pride. And with it, grief and pain for the friends who did not return from battle. The friends who you and we miss so very deeply.”
The president told families of the fallen: “There is no military achievement and no war without cost. You, the bereaved families, paid the heaviest and greatest price of all. The parents, who are mostly no longer with us. The spouses. The children, IDF orphans. The brothers and sisters. There is no healing your pain. May the souls of the men and women be bound in the bond of life forever.”
Beautifully said……..
It reminds me of the words [in part] of Moshe Dyan as Minister of Defense to the young Bar Mitzvah boys at that time in history.
“You are blessed with many things.
Your Bar Mitzvah is being celebrated under the wings of Habad, whose Spirit and love For God and His Torah extends to the people of Israel.
Blessed because you have a country, a nation and an army devoted to your welfare and safety..
Blessed because you are the sons of true heroes, men who gave their lives not only that you should become Bar Mitzvah but also that we should be here to observe with you.
Their memory is yours to treasure, ours to revere.”